Although the editors of this magazine always have worked in collaboration with the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA), this issue marks the first in which the association officially is co-sponsoring the section devoted to concrete paving technology.
The association and the industry are making strides toward more durable, faster-setting concrete pavements targeted at the growing rehabilitation needs of the nation's roads.
States such as California are striving to implement design changes in their concrete pavements so they will last 40 years instead of 20. To keep traffic moving, states also want their rehabilitated pavements to last longer, with as minimal amount of maintenance as possible. The industry is working through research and field study to make the 40-year PCC pavement a standard throughout in coming years.
Recognition well deserved
During the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in January, the ACPA hosted a reception for two of its mainstays who recently announced their retirements. Both men, Marlin Knutson, president and CEO, and Stan LaHue, director of highways, will be sorely missed by the association and the highway industry.
Knutson, who plans to retire at the end of the year, took over the reins of the association in 1985. He has lead the association through the highway industry's transition from the "green field" paving that characterized the interstate era to the era of reconstruction and rehabilitation. LaHue, who spent 14-1/2 years with ACPA after a career with the Federal Highway Administration, retired officially last December.
'Show me the money'
Everyone, it seems, is interested in what their counterparts earn. The staff of ROADS & BRIDGES found this to be no different in the highway industry.
Our first-ever highway industry salary survey appears in our pages this month. We asked more than 3,000 highway construction industry personnel what they make. The response was rather surprising and showed our readers' interest in such matters. More than 1,000 responses were received--a very high percentage for a reader survey.
Perhaps this is because the survey is unique in the industry. Salary data was collected for various sectors of the industry; public officials at all levels of government and the private sector, including contractors and manufacturers.
April issues, opened to the survey, are sure to be flashed in front of some bosses.
