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DES MOINES ASPHALT & PAVING WINS TOP AWARD FOR QUALITY
The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) has awarded Des Moines Asphalt & Paving Co. of Des Moines, IA the 2006 Sheldon G. Hayes Award for excellence in construction of an asphalt pavement. The company received the award at the association's 52nd Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Three companies were named finalists for the award: Diamond B Construction, Louisiana; E & B Paving Inc., Indiana; and Norris Asphalt Paving Co., Iowa.

Des Moines Asphalt & Paving Co.'s winning project was the widening of a three-mile stretch of I-235 in the city of Des Moines. The project area ran from the western end of the 8th Street Bridge to the east end of a bridge over I-35, an area that frustrated rush hour commuters with its constant backups.

Des Moines Asphalt & Paving Co. added one lane to both sides of the road, making it three lanes in each direction. In some sections around exits it added a fourth auxiliary lane as well. Finally, it overlaid all sections to create a smooth pavement.

The existing V-ditch in the center of the roadway posed one of the greatest challenges. Crews had to tear out the 50-foot-wide grass median and construct a storm sewer, concrete barrier and concrete median in its place. "We had a 16- to 20-foot-wide hole on each side of that median, which made it very tough and tight to get in and out of the area," says Greg Kinser, vice president and operations manager.

Crews worked under traffic, often during evening and weekend hours to minimize the disruption to motorists. "We were not allowed to have less than two lanes of traffic open," Kinser adds.

The project required a total of 143,911 tons of hot-mix asphalt (HMA), designed to stand up to 30 million ESALs (equivalent single axle loads). "One feature of this project that we're very proud of is the consistent, high quality mix that we had throughout," says Kinser. Using a shuttle buggy helped keep the pavement smooth during laydown, earning Des Moines Asphalt and Paving Co. an incentive bonus.

"We've got some very talented people and some good equipment," Kinser says. "We like to think that we all do a good job of paying attention to the quality details. We believe this project showcases the vital benefits of HMA: rapid construction and a long-lasting, smooth, safe, quiet ride, all at a cost substantially below engineers' estimates."

The Sheldon G. Hayes Award winner is determined through a two-year process. Highway pavement projects using more than 50,000 tons of HMA are eligible for consideration.

INGERSOLL RAND SELLS ROAD DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS
AB VOLVO ACQUIRES DIVISION FOR $1.3 BILLION

Volvo concluded the acquistion of the US-based Ingersoll Rand's road development equipment division, other than operations in India, which will follow shortly. The division was consolidated in the Volvo Group on May 1.

The Road Development business unit manufactures and sells asphalt paving equipment, compaction equipment, milling machines and construction-related material handling equipment. In 2006 Road Development generated net revenues of approximately $850 million, which included inter-company revenues of approximately $150 million. The sale includes manufacturing facilities in Letterkenny and Shippensburg, PA; Hameln, Germany; Wuxi, China; and Bangalore, India; as well as 20 distribution and service facilities in the United States. The business includes approximately 2,000 people worldwide.

"The Road Development business has been a strong contributor to Ingersoll Rand's success for several decades and remains an industry leader with dedicated and talented employees," says Herbert L. Henkel, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "However, the business' markets and products do not fit within our transformed portfolio of diversified industrial businesses. I'm confident that Road Development will benefit by joining a company sharing similar competencies and offering complementary products and services."

Tony Helsham, president of Volvo Construction Equipment, adds, "Strategically, the acquisition fits exceptionally well with Volvo's current operations within motor graders and positions Volvo as a full-range manufacturer of heavy road construction equipment."

WHITE ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF NAPA
OFFICERS INSTALLED DURING ANNUAL MEETING

Ronald M. White, CEO of Superior Paving Corp., Gainesville, VA, has been elected chairman of the board of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) for 2007. White was installed in office during NAPA's 52nd Annual Meeting in California.

Other national officers serving with White for 2007 are G.M. "Mac" Badgett, Vulcan Materials Co., Birmingham, AL, first vice chairman; James E. Weeks, Barrett Paving Materials Inc., Cincinnati, OH, second vice chairman; Blaine M. Johnson, Midwest Asphalt Corp., Hopkins, MN, third vice chairman; Kim W. Snyder, Eastern Industries Inc., Center Valley, PA, secretary; and Larry H. Lemon, Haskell Lemon Construction Co., Oklahoma City, OK, treasurer.

White's NAPA activities include being a member of the Executive Committee since 2001, a NAPA State Director from 1989 to 1991, and a member of numerous other NAPA committees and task forces.

ALIFORNIA BUYS ECOPATH UNITS
EQUIPMENT PRODUCES ASPHALT RUBBER PAVING

California joins the list of high-traffic locales around the world purchasing Ecopath equipment to produce asphalt rubber highway paving when two blending units recently were bought by Skanska and California Commercial Asphalt.

Ecopath's mobile plants blend asphalt with crumb rubber from discarded tires, an environmentally-friendly process used as a paving material.

"Beyond the environmental attributes, major asphalt rubber benefits include greater road safety, durability and economy, as well as much quieter surfaces," says Ecopath CEO Diane Graham. "Contractors and consumers want those benefits."

Beginning January 1, 2006, California mandated that a percentage of crumb rubber be included in its asphalt highway paving. The percentage is scheduled to grow over the years.

"The state of California generates over 34 million waste tires each year," says California Assembly Member Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), who sponsored legislation for rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC). "A quarter of those old tires are disposed of in landfill and illegal stockpiles.

"Recycling them to produce RAC is a great alternative use. RAC requires only half as much material per paved mile as conventional asphalt, saving the state up to $22,852 per lane mile," Levine says.

Graham adds, "RAC also promotes long-term use with considerably less maintenance costs."

AGC URGES MOTORISTS TO SLOW DOWN
MORE THAN 1,000 WORKERS, MOTORISTS KILLED IN WORK ZONES EACH YEAR

Associated General Contractors (AGC) highway construction contractors continue to make highway work zones safer, protecting both the workers and the motorists. "Work zone injuries and deaths are avoidable," says Stephen E. Sandherr, chief executive officer of AGC during Work Zone Awareness Week.

Each year, more than 1,000 workers and motorists are killed in work zones and those numbers have been steadily increasing.

The theme for this year's Work Zone Awareness Week is "Signs of Change" and is intended to get motorists to pay closer attention to the orange work zone signs that give them direction when construction is underway.

"The construction industry places a premium on worker safety and we will continue to make it a priority to keep our workers out of harm's way," says AGC member Brian Burgett, Kokosing Construction Co., Frederickstown, OH, who spoke during an event at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge reconstruction project, part of the Capitol beltway just south of Washington, D.C. "As a contractor, my goal is to protect employees from all unnecessary hazards; but the facts remain that there is one work zone fatality every 8.2 hours or three per day."

Kokosing Construction Co. was also named AGC's Grand Safety Award Winner at AGC's 88th Annual Convention in San Antonio in March. Over the last four years Kokosing's management and employees have made substantial improvements in their safety program.The team focused on core safety processes, which helped their incident rate drop from 8.98 percent in 2003 to 3.32 percent in 2006.

AMAP NAMES PERSON OF THE YEAR
NEW OFFICERS ALSO NAMED AT ANNUAL MEETING

Association of Modified Asphalt Producers (AMAP), an international association dedicated to the development, production and use of modified asphalts that extend the life of interstate pavements, named its Person of the Year and new officers for 2007 during the organization's 8th Annual Meeting in February.

The "Person of the Year" achievement award was presented to Rick Holmgreen, asphalt technical manager for ConocoPhillips Company and member of AMAP's Board of Directors. The award recognized Holmgreen's dedicated efforts to promote the establishment of standardized testing procedures for modified asphalts throughout North America.

AMAP's new officers for 2007-2009 were also named during the meeting. Former AMAP Vice President Ron Corun, technical support manager for CITGO Asphalt Refining Company, was elected president, replacing Henry Romagosa of ICL Performance Products LP. In addition, Mack Roberts, general manager of UltraPave Inc., accepted the office of vice president, while Mark Bunch, US technical marketing development manager for BP Asphalt, was named AMAP's new secretary-treasurer.

TOPCON ROADSHOW TO VISIT 100 CITIES
PROGRAM INCLUDES SEMINARS AND DEMOS

Dubbed the "TTR 2007 Speed, Accuracy and Bottom Line Tour," the 2007 Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) Technology Roadshow kicks off its fifth year of educational seminars and hands-on demonstrations for surveying, GPS, GIS and machine control operations.

From April to October TPS representatives in conjunction with Topcon dealers, will host regional seminars in more than 100 cities across the United States and Canada.

Jason Killpack, TPS product marketing manager, says, "A Topcon Technology Roadshow, through videos, informal education sessions, hands-on demonstrations and open question-and-answer sessions can give customers an incredible amount of useful information in half-a-day."

A listing of participating cities is available at www.topconroadshow.com.

TILCON KEEPS DRIVERS SAFE
COMPANY PARTNERS WITH HIGHWAY SAFETY DEPARTMENT

Tilcon Delaware, the area's largest paving and construction materials supplier, recently joined the Delaware Office of Highway Safety's Corporate Outreach program. The program is designed to help businesses educate their employees to reduce traffic crashes, injuries and their related costs.

Tilcon's employees travel an average of more than 1 million miles per year on Delaware highways on the job. Through this program, Tilcon is providing tools and information their employees need to make the roadways safer for themselves as well as other drivers.

"A vast majority of our employees are out on the roads on a daily basis and with this program they'll always have the most up-to-date information concerning the roadways," says Tilcon Community Relations Manager Norene Brennan.

The Delaware Office of Highway Safety's Corporate Outreach program is targeted to partnering with the corporate community to help save lives on Delaware's roadways through education and awareness. As part of the program, roadway safety information will be regularly distributed to employees at all Tilcon Delaware locations, as well as through the Tilcon Delaware employee newsletter.

"At the Crossroads"

NCPP RELEASES NEW PUBLICATION
The National Center for Pavement Preservation (NCPP) at Michigan State University recently released a new publication, "At the Crossroads - Preserving Our Highway Investment," as means to stimulate discussion about the nation's highways.

The book looks at the role the highway system plays, how they are financed, constructed and maintained in an effort to explore more effective and efficient ways of achieving this country's transportation objectives.

The role NCPP plays is in promoting the effective use of preservation to extend the life cycle of roads, rather than waiting for those roads to completely deteriorate to a point that requires total reconstruction. In order to finance the surface transportation needs, road agencies need to make preservation an integral part of the solution.

Road agencies continue to respond to the mindset of fixing worst roads first, primarily as a reaction to what taxpayers believe to be the best allocation of road funds. But pavement preservation advocates believe that maintaining roads that are in good condition will extend the service life of those roads and the funds allocated for building and maintaining the surface transportation system.

To receive a copy of "At the Crossroads," contact NCPP at www.pavementpreservation.org.

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