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CALENDAR
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CalAPA Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday, July 29
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: AGC of California, 3095 Beacon Blvd., West Sacramento
Contact: Russell Snyder (916) 791-5044.
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Southern California Contractors' Dinner
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 5:30 p.m.
Dal Rae Restaurant
9023 E. Washington Blvd.
Pico Rivera Contact: Tony Grasso (909) 362-9192
Details soon!
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CLICK & GO!View our interactive, "At a Glance" event calendar HERE.
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SOCIALIZE
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| CHOOSE ASPHALT | |
Asphalt is used on about 94 percent of paved roads in America. Why? Because it's smooth, quiet, safe, durable and 100 percent recyclable. Visit the Asphalt Pavement Alliance website learn more about why asphalt is the right choice now more than ever. |
| GET TECHNICAL | |
Are you an engineer, designer or technical professional who makes decisions on pavement type selection? The DriveAsphalt website has technical reports and other resources may be just what you're looking for. Click HERE for more information.
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| CalAPA | | |
California Asphalt Pavement Association (CalAPA)
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 981300
West Sacramento, CA 95798
Main office:
1550 Harbor Blvd., Suite 211
West Sacramento, CA 95691
(916) 791-5044 (phone)
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| BACK ISSUES | |
Did you miss an issue of the California Asphalt Insider? No problem! Past editions of the newsletter are available at the CalAPA newsletter archive page.
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| MAGAZINE |  |
CalAPA produces a highly regarded magazine, California Asphalt, and an annual membership directory. To view back issues of the magazine, click HERE. For advertising sales in the magazine and directory, click HERE or call Kerry Hoover with Construction Marketing Services at (909) 772-3121.
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| STAY INFORMED |  |
Click HERE to receive California Asphalt Insider each week via e-mail FREE! Or visit our website at:
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WATCH
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Click HERE to visit our video page.
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DESIGN!
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Click HERE to visit the PavExpress website.
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This weekly bulletin contains the latest news and information of interest to the asphalt pavement industry in California. Please feel free to distribute this newsletter to others who may be interested in asphalt pavements. |
 | PaveXpress: Free web-based pavement design tool adds features
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PaveXpress, the free web-based pavement design tool, was recently upgraded to add new features, including AASHTO layered design analysis and AASHTO-recommended defaults for design parameters.
To visit the PaveXpress website, click HERE.
The easy-to-use pavement design tool was created to assist state and local engineers, consultants and students in making informed pavement structural decisions using the AASHTO 93/98 design  procedures for flexible and rigid pavements. PaveXpress can be accessed on any internet-connected device and requires no software downloads or licenses. PaveXpress continues to be enhanced through the support of the Pavement Design Group of the Pavement Economics Committee -- a pooled fund supported by the National Asphalt Pavement Association, the Asphalt Institute and state asphalt pavement associations, including CalAPA. The new features recently added to PaveXpress include the AASHTO layered design analysis to ensure proper layer support for varying base materials; AASHTO-recommended defaults for design parameters, such as reliability and serviceability to streamline the design process; enhanced traffic input methods; and enhanced printable reports with additional detial, as well as updated and expanded help and FAQs. In the coming months PaveXpress will be able to accommodate pavement designs for overlays and also to incorporate layered elastic analysis. |
| Special environmental issue of California Asphalt magazine now on-line
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The annual environment-themed issue of California Asphalt magazine is now available on-line. Click HERE to view an interactive, 3-D version of the issue. The official CalAPA magazine includes profiles of a new DeSilva  Gates asphalt plant, which features state-of-the-art environmental controls. The issue also features a profile of various Caltrans "green" initiatives, an update on storm-water control regulations, a legal column, insurance column, legislative update, association news and more. An archive of past issues of the magazine can be found HERE. For advertising information or to submit story ideas, contact Kerry Hoover of Construction Marketing Services at (909) 772-3121. |
| Must-see TV: Straight talk about the future of transportation funding
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While Caltrans has been long known for planning, designing, building and maintaining the state's highway system, the department boasts many other talents, including communicating via the internet and TV.
The department broke ground in the mid-1990s by putting traffic conditions on-line, first in text format and later via streaming live traffic cameras. Gigabytes of on-line content quickly followed.
Recently, the department has produced some impressive YouTube videos helping the public understand various transportation-related activities, behind-the-scenes construction work and promoting safety.
One of the more compelling videos the department posted
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| | Dougherty (left) and Kempton. |
recently was a report featuring TV personality Mike Rowe of "Deadliest Catch" and "Dirtiest Jobs" fame, who was following around a Caltrans rock-climbing crew dislodging boulders looming precariously above a coastal highway in Southern California. The TV eye-candy was the brainchild of Caltrans District 7 video specialist Steve P. DeVorkin, whose other claim to fame is he once had a cameo (before his career in state service) on the TV sitcom "Cheers." His one line, "Is that my beer?" -- is now part of Caltrans lore. You can view DeVorkin's 3-minue rock-climbing report HERE.
But not every video requires impressive footage of derring-do to convey important information. In a video discussion posted last week by the department, Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty engages former Caltrans Director and current California Transportation Commission Executive Director Will Kempton in an insightful policy discussion about the future of transportation funding. You can view the 9 1/2-minute video HERE.
Along with its periodic "Mile Marker" publication, the department is making great strides in improving transparency and accountability by informing the public about what it does with our tax dollars. |
| Federal transportation funding update: Continuing constipation; no end in sight
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The continuing gridlock in Washington does not bode well for the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is tetering on the brink of insolvency and limping along on a series of short-term patches, the latest of which is due to expire at the end of this month.
Congress, meanwhile, is preparing for a month-long haiatus in August, and no one has yet figured out how the federal government will come up with the estimated $11 billion needed to  keep the HTF solvent for the rest of the year, much less the six-year time frame transportation advocates are pushing for. It's a game of political brinkmanship that recalls the Tom Cruise line from the movie Jerry Maguire: "Show me the money."
Still, finding the $90 billion or so for a long-term bill is still radioactive to a Republican-controlled Congress filled with newly elected members who pledged not to raise taxes of any kind.
Chief among them is House Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy from Bakersfield, who recently told an interviewer "Let's think of something else" other than raising the federal gas tax that was last increased in the early 1990s, contributing to today's crisis.
Other comments made last week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., virtually assured another short-term extension was a likely outcome.
Looming over the discussions is the possibility of another federal government shut-down Sept. 30 if Congress cannot approve a new spending law.
Never-say-die transportation advocates, meanwhile, continue to beat the drum for action, while state transportation officials start releasing lists of projects that won't get built because of the funding uncertainty.
To watch a video, sign a petition or access other grass-roots advocacy tools, click HERE to visit the "Don't Let America Dead End" website.
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| Quote of the Week
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"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill
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We hope you enjoy CalAPA's Asphalt Insider. We are committed to providing you with the most up-to-date information on technical issues, regulation, news and events in California that may impact the asphalt pavement industry. Click HERE to contact us with any comments or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Russell W. SnyderExecutive Director California Asphalt Pavement Association (CalAPA) |
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