Click to enlarge and view presenters
The Florida Department of Transportation (FLDOT) and Florida Concrete and Products Association (ACPA-Florida Chapter) hosted its inaugural two-day virtual conference “PaveWise 2020 Concrete Conference” September 23-24, 2020.
Click to watch 35-second VIDEO
To kick off the program, a brief video was presented. Then local, state, and national experts helped paint an optimistic future for concrete pavements in Florida. They highlighted impressive recent project examples from the past year for participants while delivering an informative and inspiring message about the features and benefits of concrete pavements.
The virtual conference consisted of 5 ‘hot button’ sessions for the industry:
• State of the Florida, surrounding market, and the USA
• Tools and resources
• Best practices
• Future of freight transportation
• Local roads roundtable
Moderators: Monica Manolas, President-Ash Grove South; Timothy Ruelke, Director, Office of Materials-FLDOT; Amy Wedel, Director-Florida Concrete & Products Association; Brian Killingsworth, Executive VP-NRMCA;
Session Presenters: Matt Sitter, President–FC&PA; Kevin Thibault, Secretary–FDOT, and Tim Lattner, Director–Office of Design-FDOT; Jerry Voigt, President and CEO-ACPA; Eric Ferrebee, Technical Director-ACPA; Tyler Ley, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Structural Engineering-Oklahoma; Mike Paul, Senior Concrete Engineer-FHWA Office of Preconstruction, Construction & Pavements; James Green, Pavement Research Engineer-FDOT; Jim Mack, Director Infrastructure/Market Development-CEMEX; Sam Joiner, GM–Ajax Paving; John Roberts, Executive Director-IGGA; Gordon Smith, Associate Director-CPTech Center; Joey Wood, Project Manager-Eisman & Russo; Jeremy Gregory, Executive Director-CSHub-MIT; Roger Schmidt, Director-District & Local Road Transportation Engineering-FCPA; Phillip “Greg” Davis, State Pavement Design Engineer-FDOT; Dana Gillette, Principal Associate-Erdman Anthony; Phoebe Cuevas Molina, Associate-Erdman Anthony; and Terrence Bailey, Director of Public Works-City of Riviera Beach
Jerry Voigt began the conference by providing the broad, national perspective of the concrete paving industry; the state of the concrete pavement market around the country; and a national update on the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA).
Matt Sitter commented on highlights of the virtual workshop, “We are happy to be working with FDOT to publish a ‘Florida Streets and Local Road Manual’, which was presented on Thursday by Roger Schmitt of FCPA and Greg Davis of FDOT.”
Eric Ferrebee gave an update on PavementDesigner.org and presented best practices for designing concrete pavements. Technology partners International Grooving and Grinding Association (IGGA) and the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) were represented by John Roberts and Gordon Smith.
Matt added, “Amy Wedel moderated a session exploring Florida’s growth and freight demands. Florida is a leader in autonomous and connected vehicles. Tyler Ley, Oklahoma State University, YouTube “The Concrete Life” video presentation expert who was named “One of the Most Influential People in the Concrete Industry in 2019 by Concrete Construction Magazine“, presented a vision of how autonomous truck lanes could make Florida’s roads safer, more efficient, and last longer.
The 2020 PaveWise Concrete Conference was a great success, even with the challenge of moving to an online format. The conference drew more than 200 attendees for each of the sessions. The Florida Chapter is excited to continue the success of pavement promotion and has already set the date of the second PaveWise Concrete Conference for 2021.
For the Introductory Video at the conference, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sads5ncIuPU&feature=youtu.be
For more information, please go to: https://www.acpa.org/24342-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=24342-2
For Tyler Ley’s YouTube “The Concrete Life” Videos, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrvfiHNDS_QI-FgKQSmTITQ
For his introductory video “The Concrete Life | Channel Introduction”, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLoTFe4eZo
Home photo: Created by Amy M. Dean, Editor-in-Chief, ISCP—Combination of 5 tweets from Florida Concrete Twitter: https://twitter.com/FLConcreteAssoc