The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) announced the winner and finalists of the 2016 Sheldon G. Hayes Award for excellence in construction of an asphalt pavement. The award, bestowed annually since 1971, recognizes the country’s highest quality highway pavements.
Northeast Asphalt Inc. and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation — Northeast Region were named the winner of the 2016 Sheldon G. Hayes Award. Northeast Asphalt Inc. won for its work on State Trunk Highway 26 in Rosendale, Wis.
Finalists for the award were Knife River Materials Northern Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Transportation — Thief River Falls for work on Pennington Marshall Co Trunk Highway 32; Norris Asphalt Paving Co. and the Iowa Department of Transportation for work on Highway 2 in Centerville, Iowa; Shelly & Sands Inc. and the Ohio Department of Transportation for the I-77 project in Noble County, Ohio; and Northeast Asphalt Inc. and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for the U.S. Highway 141 Wausaukee to Beaver project in Crivitz, Wis.
The Sheldon G. Hayes Award winner and finalists are determined through a two-year evaluation process. All highway pavement projects using more than 50,000 tons of asphalt is eligible for consideration. Initially, the project must win a Quality in Construction (QIC) Award, which is determined by numerical scores given by pavement engineers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) on the basis of how well the contractor met specifications and achieved density on the finished pavement. All the pavements that meet a benchmark figure earn the QIC Award.
The year after a project wins a QIC Award, it is eligible for consideration for the Sheldon G. Hayes Award. The top-ranked projects from each year are tested for smoothness, and then visually inspected by an independent pavement consultant with many years of experience in the industry. This year, the evaluator praised all the candidates for their high-quality construction practices, which resulted in smooth, safe, and durable pavements.
At NAPA’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Orlando, the winner and each finalist were presented with an award for their achievement. “The asphalt pavement industry is committed to building quality pavements that deliver high performance and drivability to the public,” said Kevin Kelly, NAPA 2016 Chairman.
The award is named for Sheldon G. Hayes, a founder of NAPA and the association’s first chairman. Hayes spent his entire career striving for better construction techniques and improvements in the quality of asphalt pavements.
