AMAP's 13th annual meeting draws record crowds

AMAP Hall of Fame

A record 144 attendees turned out for AMAP's 13th annual conference, held Feb. 7-9, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

As in years past, the event featured a broad-based group of presenters from government and industry, including the Asphalt Institute, NAPA, the American Society of Civil Engineering, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, the Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Louisiana State University and the University of Arkansas. The meeting also featured a special keynote address from Indian storyteller Emmett "Shkeme" Garcia, and a number of informational sessions on a range of topics, including road maintenance funding issues, New Mexico's chip experiences, the use and testing of cost-effective modifiers and modified maintenance applications.

The meeting was highlighted by a special banquet in which Joseph Goodrich received AMAP's Lifetime Achievement Award. Goodrich, formerly the lead scientist from Chevron USA, was honored for his lifetime of distinguished career accomplishments, which include his work as one of the lead scientists in the development of modified asphalt during the early years of Superpave. During the banquet, AMAP board member Ray Mertz was also recognized as AMAP's Person of the Year for his dedicated efforts to spread the word about the merits of the organization and recruit new member companies.

This year's event was another huge success. Special thanks go out to the members of AMAP's program committee for their hard work in planning the event and to our speakers for their willingness to present.

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AMAP and World of Asphalt to host events in San Antonio, March 19-21

For the first time ever, AMAP will host its Annual Conference and Workshop in conjunction with the 2013 World of Asphalt event. The conferences will happen simultaneously in San Antonio, Texas, March 19-21, giving participants the chance to enjoy all that both events have to offer.

WOA logoAMAP's 14th annual conference will be held at the Embassy Suites San Antonio Riverwalk-Downtown, while the San Antonio Convention Center will be the site of World of Asphalt 2013. Registration for AMAP's event will include admission to World of Asphalt, and the San Antonio Convention Center will serve as the site for AMAP's newly updated annual training course and workshop on March 19.

Throughout the day on March 20, AMAP conference attendees can take advantage of a free shuttle that will run to and from the World of Asphalt event. Through this year's partnership with World of Asphalt, AMAP will also have a display at the event, and AMAP member companies who have not previously exhibited at World of Asphalt will have the chance to secure exhibit space for a reduced fee.

"We're excited about this partnership with World of Asphalt," said Bob Berkley, executive director of AMAP. "Many individuals look forward to attending both our conference and World of Asphalt every year, and this partnership will allow them to experience both events without incurring additional travel expenses, which is a great benefit in this tight economy. We also think this is a great opportunity for those attending World of Asphalt, who may not be familiar with AMAP, to learn more about us and see what we're all about."

As in years past, owners, paving contractors, engineers, consultants, suppliers, producers and all those with vested interest in the modified asphalt paving industry are invited and encouraged to attend AMAP's annual conference. The event will bring together another broad-based group of presenters from government and industry to discuss the latest news and issues affecting the asphalt industry. Topics on tap include modified asphalt mixtures, market changes, warm mix asphalt and updates on various construction projects of interest.

Our 14th annual conference and World of Asphalt 2013 are two events you won't want to miss, so be sure to mark your calendars now and make plans to be in San Antonio, Texas, March 19-21. Registration information for AMAP's conference will be posted this fall on the AMAP website at www.modifiedasphalt.org. For information on World of Asphalt 2013, visit www.worldofasphalt.com.

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Message from the Executive Director

Bob BerkleyOn June 30, Congress passed a new $102 billion highway funding bill, which was immediately signed into law by President Obama. With the passage of this bill, the Highway Trust Fund will be funded until September 2014. While the bill is not without riders, and all the funds allocated as "highway" will not all go directly to road and bridge maintenance, the bill represents a new source of revenue that will replace the Safe Affordable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU) extension which expired on the same day this new bill was passed. In addition to providing funding for highway projects, this bill will also ensure that rates on student loans will remain low for another year and will provide for a five-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program.

I am pleased to see the cooperation from both political parties to pass this bill. I am also happy to hear the frequent mention of the word "jobs" associated with "infrastructure" in the current presidential campaign rhetoric. While I've heard those words before, my hopes are on the rise once again.

My chief concern is that this bill only provides funding until September 2014. After that, the funds will be dry again. Congress will have to eventually understand that we need a long-term funding bill. We also need increased fuel tax revenue. A 25-35 cent per gallon fuel tax would go a long way towards generating long-term funding that can be used to repair our aging roads and bridges.

With highway funding continuing to be top of mind within our industry, this topic is sure to be a major source of discussion at our 14th Annual Conference, which will mark the first time AMAP will host its event in conjunction with World of Asphalt. Our goal in doing so is to help those who attend both conferences yearly to save money, as they will incur only one travel expense, while receiving admission to AMAP's conference and the WOA exhibits with one AMAP registration. Hotel rooms will be blocked at the Embassy Suites on the beautiful Riverwalk, and we'll host our renowned Technical Workshop on Tuesday at the convention center. Please plan to join us in San Antonio in March as we all advance our asphalt knowledge.

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AMAP Honors: Jay Hansen

In this issue of AMAP News, we continue to pay tribute to individuals whose efforts are advancing the asphalt industry by recognizing Jay Hansen, Executive Vice President of the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

Jay HansenGraduating with a bachelor's degree in Political Science from San Diego State University in 1985, Hansen is currently the only registered lobbyist in Washington, D.C., whose work is dedicated solely to the business and market of the asphalt paving industry. But, his route to a career in the industry was far from typical. During his last semester in college, Hansen accepted an internship with California Representative Jim Bates, who hired him as a legislative director immediately after graduation. In 1987, Hansen officially made his move to Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill.

"I actually moved to Washington the weekend that President Ronald Reagan vetoed a highway bill because it included 150 earmarked highway projects," Hansen said. "Congress overrode that veto on a bipartisan vote. That was my very first experience with highway legislation, and as a young professional, I was really inspired by it."

Hansen spent 12 years working in Congress, where his accomplishments included coordinating a Public Works and Transportation Committee hearing in Nashville to help develop a hearing agenda and prepare congressmen in advance of the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991. Hansen also worked to obtain ISTEA funding for use in the development and construction of an intermodal transportation terminal in downtown Nashville.

In 1996, Hansen left Capitol Hill to focus on raising his family, and took on a new career role as director of infrastructure programs with the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). In this position, he represented 5,000 private sector engineering firms, advocating for transportation-related issues before members of Congress, the U.S. Department of Transportation, state transportation departments and other transportation-related associations.

Hansen's time with ACEC eventually led him to the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), where he got his start as Vice President of Government Affairs, and was recently promoted to Executive Vice President. Over the past 14 years, Hansen's efforts have been focused on securing Federal highway funding for the asphalt paving industry and protecting the business interests of the industry by working to ensure that bills enacted by Congress remain pavement-neutral.

As NAPA's VP of Government Affairs, Hansen's achievements included the securing of the first $1.5 million appropriation for asphalt highway research at the National Center for Asphalt Technology; preparing and publishing NAPA's recommendations for the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21); successfully lobbying for a number of provisions beneficial to the asphalt industry in the Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU), including funding for the first-ever research program for asphalt, which received $4.1 million annually; and securing a record level of funding for highway construction as part of the Fiscal 2007 Transportation Appropriations Bill.

Most recently, Hansen led NAPA's efforts to secure a set aside in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) surface transportation reauthorization bill, providing for $24 million in funding to assist in the implementation and deployment of innovative asphalt technologies designed to extend the life of pavements.

"NAPA worked very hard to see this legislation enacted," said Hansen. "For the first time in three years, there will be funding certainty over two full construction seasons."

With a long list of distinguished career accomplishments under his belt, Hansen says the one he continues to be most proud of is his work with NAPA's Research and Education Foundation to raise over $1 million to create the "America on the Move" transportation exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The exhibit, which tells the story of transportation in the United States, features real asphalt pavement, which was installed by NAPA member company Superior Paving Corp.

"Currently, 4.6 million visitors a year tour this incredible exhibit, and it's playing an important role in educating the public on how the asphalt industry helped to make our nation mobile and prosperous," said Hansen.

Looking to the future, Hansen says he has much more work to do and has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

"The asphalt pavement industry has been very good to me, and I plan to continue representing it in Washington D.C. for as long as it will have me," said Hansen. "Our industry has a great story to tell, and I feel that it's my mission to ensure that Congress hears that story."

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AMAP selects 2012 Dave Jones scholarship recipients

AMAP is pleased to announce that the organization recently selected its 2012 David R. Jones IV Scholarship recipients. In February, $1,000 awards were presented to students from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and Texas A&M University.

Kristen DereweckiHaving recently received her Masters of Science from the School of Engineering at Rutgers, Kristen Derewecki was selected for the award based on her work in developing specifications to utilize 4mm Dynamic Shear Rheometer parallel plates to performance grade asphalt binders. Her efforts also included relating the results obtained using the 4mm plates to other existing binder tests in an effort to reduce the amount of material needed for performance grading. The primary application for this would be with recovered binders used in forensic testing, where material is at a premium. As a graduate student, Kristen was thrilled to find out that the Dave Jones Scholarship was open to those pursuing masters degrees and says she ran to tell her friends and family when she found out she was one of this year's winners. She noted that while she's still not sure where her career will take her, she definitely sees herself working in the asphalt industry. "Asphalt is in my blood. I'm sure It will follow me wherever I go."

Xue LuoXue Luo, who recently earned her Ph.D. from the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, applied for the Dave Jones Scholarship after learning about the opportunity from one of her professors. While working on her Ph.D., Xue was involved in several projects which made her a standout for the Dave Jones Scholarship. She developed a new approach to measure, predict and control damage in pavement using fundamental engineering properties. The approach has strong practical applications because of its simplicity, accuracy and efficiency. Namely, the approach can be used to distinctly demonstrate how modified asphalts perform better than regular asphalts. Xue says she plans to use her scholarship money to attend additional conferences, workshops and seminars focused on asphalt paving-related topics so she can further expand her knowledge base of the industry. "As I look to the future, I'd like to continue to devote time to modified asphalt research and hope to grow my relationship with AMAP."

The David R. Jones IV Scholarship Fund was founded by AMAP in 2009 in memory of late asphalt industry leader Dave Jones IV. Jones served in a variety of capacities in the asphalt industry, including time at the University of Texas, where he was a key member of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) team responsible for Performance Graded Asphalt Binder Specification. The award is presented annually to one or more outstanding undergraduate and graduate students majoring in a field of study related to asphalt technology, such as civil engineering, chemical engineering and chemistry.

"Dave Jones was an asphalt industry pioneer, and this scholarship gives us the chance to honor him while also helping the future leaders of our industry achieve their career goals," said Bob Berkley, executive director of AMAP.

The David R. Jones IV Scholarship program is funded by contributions from AMAP and outside donations. To make a donation, or for more information on the scholarship fund, contact Kevin Hardin, Chariman of AMAP's Scholarship Committee via email at [email protected].


Special Thanks

AMAP would like to thank Elle Meitl, daughter of AMAP board member Al Meitl, for all of the assistance she has provided to us this summer. She has accomplished some extensive clerical tasks which will greatly benefit our organization in the long term. We are grateful for her service and wish her well as she prepares to head back to college for the fall semester.

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Message from the President

Uncle Sam Poster

Ron CorunHopefully, everyone recognizes the U.S. Army recruitment poster from World War I shown above. In wartime, our great country calls on its citizens to defend freedom, liberty and our way of life. The asphalt industry and the modified asphalt industry are currently in a war to maintain their positions as the preferred paving materials on our American highway system. They are under attack from two fronts. First, the cement industry is spending millions of dollars per year to market Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) as the economical and sustainable paving material. They have endowed a center at MIT, ostensibly, to generate research papers that back up their claims. The research papers from MIT to date have been lacking in sound science; nevertheless, our industry must continue to refute the reports which carry the prestige of the MIT name. Second, the struggling U.S. economy and the tight infrastructure budgets at the federal, state and local levels have reduced paving expenditures by as much as 40 percent in the past four years. Tight budgets lead to cost-cutting measures, and eliminating modified asphalts may appear to be an attractive alternative for some agencies. However, AMAP has the research and the documentation to show definitively that modified asphalts save money by extending the life of pavements, but this argument may be a hard sell in an atmosphere of poor funding levels.

The Board of Directors of the Association of Modified Asphalt Producers understands our member companies' struggles to financially support trade associations like AMAP in today's business climate. Member companies spend their money only if they can see a return on their investment. AMAP is striving to maximize its value to the member companies and held a strategic planning meeting in January to refocus and revitalize the organization. Previously, most of the association work was performed by the Board of Directors. Under the new strategic plan, the AMAP Board will provide direction, oversight and funding to active committees that will perform the work necessary to promote and expand the modified asphalt industry. The following AMAP committees and chairs were established:

  • Finance Committee Chairman - Al Meitl, ECF
  • Technical Committee Chairman - JV Martin, Innophos
  • Education Committee Chairman - Bob Kluttz, Kraton Polymers
  • Marketing Committee Chairwoman - Jeanne Kendrick, Kraton Polymers
    • Website Subcommittee Chairman - Kevin Carlson, Jebro
    • Trade Shows Subcommittee Chairman - Ed Myatt, Dexco Polymers
    • Scholarship Subcommittee Chairman - Kevin Hardin, Associated Asphalt
    • Brochure Subcommittee Chairman - TBD
  • Membership Committee Chairman - Chris Shepherd, Momentum Technologies
  • Annual Meeting Committee Chairman - John Casola, Malvern Instruments

AMAP is looking for individuals willing to serve on these committees. A committee-member position will require two face-to-face meetings per year: one at the AMAP annual meeting and one at a mid-year meeting. The remainder of the committee business can be handled by emails, online meetings and conference calls. If we spread the tasks among more members, AMAP can utilize the diverse viewpoints and talents of our members to accomplish more than it has in the past, and it can accomplish far more than any individual member company to promote and grow our industry. If you are interested in becoming a committee member, please contact Bob Berkley at [email protected] or me at [email protected].

AMAP is looking for a few good men (and women)! I Want You for the AMAP Army!

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

AMAP's 13th annual meeting draws record crowds

AMAP and World of Asphalt to host events in San Antonio, March 19-21

Message from the Executive Director

AMAP Honors: Jay Hansen

AMAP selects 2012 Dave Jones scholarship recipients

Message from the President


AMAP Headquarters
P.O. Box 270006
St. Louis, MO 63127
Phone: 1-314-843-2627
www.modifiedasphalt.org


AMAP MEMBERS

  • Alberty Additives
  • American Heating Company
  • ARR MAZ Custom Chemicals
  • Asphalt Institute
  • Asphalt Materials, Inc.
  • Asphalt Products, LLC
  • Asphalt Refining & Technology Company
  • BASF
  • Better Roads Magazine
  • Bit Mat Products
  • Bitumar, Inc.
  • Blacklidge Emulsions, Inc.
  • BP Bitumen
  • Bright Star Energy
  • BWS Technologie GmbH
  • ChevronTexaco
  • CITGO Asphalt Refining Company
  • ConocoPhillips Company
  • Construction Resources Management
  • Dalworth Machine Products, Inc.
  • Dexco Polymers LP
  • DuPont
  • Dynasol, LLC
  • ECF, Inc.
  • ECOPATH, LLC
  • Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions
  • Ergon Asphalts, Inc.
  • ExxonMobil
  • Flint Hills Resources, LP
  • Holly Corporation (formerly Sunoco, Inc.)
  • Hudson Liquid Asphalts
  • ICL Performance
  • IKA� Works
  • Innophos, Inc.
  • International Surfacing Systems
  • Irving Oil Limited, Refinery Div.
  • Jebro, Inc.
  • Kraton Polymers
  • Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago Limited
  • Liberty Tire Recycling
  • Malvern Instruments, Inc.
  • Marathon Oil Corporation
  • Mariani Asphalt Co.
  • McConnaughay Technologies
  • Midwest Industrial Fuels
  • Modified Asphalt Research Center
  • Modified Asphalt Solutions
  • Momentum Technologies, Inc.
  • NuVention Solutions, Inc.
  • Oldcastle Materials
  • Pace Construction Company
  • PRI Asphalt Technologies, Inc.
  • Reichel & Drews, Inc.
  • Seneca Petroleum Company
  • Shell Oil Company
  • Sinopec Asphalt Sales Company
  • Suit-Kote
  • The Greater Cincinnati Asphalt Terminal
  • TK Investment USA
  • Ultrapave Corporation
  • Valero Energy Company
  • Vance Brothers, Inc.
  • Warden Modified Asphalt, LP
  • Wright Asphalt Products Company