The Spring Asphalt Pavement Conference went off last week smoother than freshly rolled asphalt, with more than 230 attendees hearing the latest updates on funding, research, specification changes, paving best practices and more.

Keynote speaker Gary Gallegos, executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) painted a slightly optimistic picture of the prospects for more transportation funding in the near future, and emphasized the need for agencies to be flexible,

SANDAG's Gary Gallegos (center) is presented with a special "Keep Calm And Pave On" T-shirt by CalAPA Executive Director Russell Snyder (left) and Deputy Executive Director Tony Grasso.

New Caltrans State Pavement Engineer Jesse Bhullar re-emphasized the department's commitment to working in partnership with industry to deliver high-quality transportation improvement projects. He assumed his new duties Feb. 17, replacing Amarjeet Benipal, who was named District 3 Director.

Basem Muallem, former Caltrans District 8 Director who on April 1 began a new job with Parsons Transportation Group in Southern California, announced that the regional Caltrans district that covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties will be moving forward with another long-life asphalt pavement project. Also known as perpetual asphalt pavement, the pavement strategy is designed to last 40 years or more with minimal maintenance. Caltrans won national recognition last year for utilizing the innovative design on seven projects, including sections of the 710 Freeway in Los Angeles County, Interstate 5 in the North State and Interstate 80 between Sacramento and San Francisco.

Other speakers represented industry, agencies and academia. Toni

2015 CalAPA Chairman John Greenwood with Skanska opened the Spring Asphatl Pavement Conference.

Carolina Rodezno representing the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University provided the latest research on performance testing of Warm Mix Asphalt, drawing partly on "live traffic" field tests in controlled conditions at NCAT's test track. Jeff Ensell with Roadtec delved into the topic of Material Transfer Vehicles, and Bob Humer with the Asphalt Institute showed the audience the do's and don'ts of proper joint construction.

Chris Long with the Federal Highway Administration offered a national perspective on transportation, and John Harvey with the UC Pavement Research Center provided a preview of research that is

The Equipment Expo portion of the conference was popular.

providing new insights into pavement performance. Two expert panel discussions tackled pavement management systems and bonded wearing courses. 

A list of all the presenters and topics can be found HERE.

One attendee summed up the event conference experience this way: "Each time I attend I think 'they're never going to be able to produce a better program.' Then the next time I attend I find CalAPA has in fact produced a better program."

All CalAPA technical presentations, including every one delivered at the conference, are available electronically on CalAPA's "SlideShare" page. Click HERE to view and download them. More photos from the conference are posted on CalAPA's Facebook Page HERE. 

This year's conference marked a return of the popular "Equipment Expo," where attendees got an up-close look at the latest equipment and technology that is resulting in higher quality and smoother pavement projects. A list of all conference sponsors and exhibitors is HERE.

The Fall Asphalt Pavement Conference & Equipment Expo will take place Oct. 28-29 at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento. Contact Sophie You at (916) 791-5044 for sponsorship and exhibitor information.

It was another overflow crowd that attended the Spring Asphalt Pavement Conference & Equipment Expo April 15-16 in Ontario.

He likes to call it "tax avoidance" rather than a tax increase. State Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, chairman of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee, last week included a possible gas-tax hike in the mix of ideas that are circulating at the state Capitol to address California's transportation funding crisis.

Beall amended his bill, SB16, to include a number of measures long sought by transportation advocates, including rescuing nearly $1 billion in diverted truck weight fees and returning them to transportation purposes, and raising the state's fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon. The tax has not been raised since George Deukmejian was governor and has lost about half of its buying power since then.

"Senate Bill 16 solves a crisis that threatens our deteriorating streets and highways," Beall said in an announcement. "California faces a $59 billion backlog in deferred maintenance that will grow by billions every year. Our cities and counties have a backlog of $40 billion in repairs. We must take action now.

 "SB 16 will provide more resources for the state to repair the

CalAPA members met with Sen. Jim Beall March 18 in Sacramento to urge him to take decisive action on transportation funding.

infrastructure under its jurisdiction and it also distributes millions to the local level," Beall said. "Counties and cities will get much-needed revenues to fix their roads."

Beall, who made his mark in local transportation circles in San Jose before being elected to the Legislature, met recently with a delegation from CalAPA to discuss several transportation funding ideas, some of which made it into his bill. He said a bold initiative to rebuild California's transportation infrastructure was "tax-avoidance" rather than raising revenue. The reasoning, he said, is that the longer we wait to fix deteriorating roads, it will cost much more to fix them. His proposals could raise $3 billion a year over five years, his office said.

To read his official announcement, click HERE. The actual amended bill language can be found HERE.

Beall is one of several measures that have been introduced in the Legislature this year attempting to address California's woeful transportation infrastructure system. Earlier this year, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, unveiled her own legislative

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (left) and CalAPA Executive Director Russell Snyder talk transportation funding recently in Sacramento.

package that she said was aimed at "fixing the future" by investing an additional $2 billion a year in transportation infrastructure. An article about the proposal that appeared previously in Asphalt Insider can be found HERE.

The measures are among 45 that are currently making their way through the legislature that may impact the asphalt pavement industry. CalAPA's lobbyists, under the direction of the CalAPA Legislative Committee, are following the bills, communicating the industry's position and offering proposed amendments when appropriate. CalAPA has forwarded "support" positions for the Beall and Atkins measures.

CalAPA members are encouraged to contact their local elected officials to encourage them to support adequate investments in transportation infrastructure. This includes members of Congress, who are contending with a yawning deficit in the federal highway trust fund. The membership directory mailed to all members last week has contact information for all members of the Legislature and the Congressional delegation from California, as well as all constitutional officers. Additional grass-roots resources can be found on the CalAPA "Legislative Action" page HERE. It includes a link to a special page created by the National Asphalt Pavement Association to look up your member of Congress and send them a pre-prepared electronic message. Click HERE to contact your member of Congress.  

The Asphalt Institute, a CalAPA partner, will hold a one-day seminar on "Principles of Quality Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement Construction" May 14 in the Sacramento area.

The workshop is designed for engineers, inspectors, technicians, and contractor personnel responsible for quality control of paving materials, mix designs and the inspection and operation of asphalt plants and paving operations. The workshop is geared for the technician-level and as a basic refresher course for the practicing engineer.

The seminar will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lions Gate Hotel & McClellan Conference Center, 3410 Westover Street, McClellan (Sacramento). The course fee is $225. To register, click HERE to visit the Asphalt Institute website and click on the events area of the webpage, or call (859) 288-4960.

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."