Pavement Preservation & Recycling Alliance (PPRA)

After more than a decade of working together, the Boards of the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association, the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association, and the International Slurry Surfacing Association, have agreed to launch the Pavement Preservation & Recycling Alliance (PPRA). PPRA will not be an organization, or a separate entity, and AEMA, ARRA, & and ISSA will continue to exist as they do today. PPRA is more a formal recognition of an agreement to work together to cooperatively represent and promote the technologies, processes, and applications currently represented and promoted individually by AEMA, ARRA & ISSA. It is simply a way for us to get more bang for our buck.

For several years, AEMA, ARRA & ISSA have conducted a joint annual meeting. In 2010, we published a joint newsletter. PPRA will be an extension of those types of cooperative programs. It is well understood the three groups participate in many of the same activities, such as workshops, seminars, newsletters, certain trade shows, and more. The alliance concept will allow the three to more formally combine forces effectively, efficiently, and economically, and to show a greater return on investment to our members, much as we’ve done with the annual meeting.

The AEMA, ARRA, and ISSA 2011 newsletters will be published as PPRA newsletters, and PPRA branding was evident in the AEMA, ARRA & ISSA exhibits at CONEXPO. PPRA will also exhibit at the 2011 NACE & APWA shows, and the AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenance meeting. PPRA branding was also prominent at the 2011 AEMA-ARRA-ISSA Annual Meeting. The alliance concept will offer all three groups more recognition on each other’s programs. AEMA’s ISAET could be expanded to include more technical presentations related to micro surfacing or full depth reclamation, for example, or ARRA’s Semi-Annual Meeting could add presentations on chip seals over recycled surfaces.

Guided by three delegates from each of the Association Boards, the Pavement Preservation & Recycling Alliance will be funded with existing monies from existing line items in the respective budgets of each group (newsletter, promotion, trade shows, etc.). PPRA is in its infancy, but it shows huge potential for partnering and speaking with a larger, unified voice as AEMA, ARRA & ISSA continue to carry their message to consulting engineers and government at all levels, and to the entire pavement preservation & recycling industries. All members of AEMA, ARRA & ISSA will be kept well-apprised of all PPRA initiatives.