Driving up to the Pinehurst Country Club in Denver, the first thing you notice is the bright whiteness of the concrete parking lots — exactly what I was there to learn about. Only recently completed, all of Pinehurst’s old black and degraded asphalt parking lots have been overlaid with 3 inches of concrete. A group of local concrete-related associations and suppliers sponsored a breakfast to explain to local contractors and ready-mix producers why and how this overlay was accomplished, starting with convincing the club’s board that paying a little extra now would save more than a million dollars over the next 20 years in asphalt maintenance. Integral to the success of this project was the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center’s new Guide to Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots and the National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association’s Design Assistance Program led by John Hanson and Amanda Hult that provides free consulting on parking lots. The overlay was placed by Leonard Velasquez’s SLV Quality Concrete. Pinehurst’s leaders and members, some of whom are in the concrete industry, are thrilled with the results.
Musical Chairs
Several concrete associations have had staff changes recently at the highest levels. Jim Toscas started the ball rolling when he left the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) to take the helm at the Portland Cement Association. Toscas was previously executive director of the American Concrete Institute so he has now led the three largest associations in the industry. Then, Bob Risser resigned as president of the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI), where he had done a great job representing the rebar industry, to fill the vacancy as president of PCI. Finally, David McDonald was named interim president at CRSI where he has worked for the last six years on CRSI’s Epoxy Interest Group, developing technical tools and promoting the use of epoxy-coated rebar. In June 2013 he wrote an article for CC celebrating epoxy rebar’s 40th anniversary.
Meetings upon Meetings
Start planning now for the fall meetings: ASCC’s Annual Conference starts Sept. 24 in Dallas; TCA’s convention starts Sept. 29 in New Brunswick, N.J;, and the ACI convention begins in Denver on Nov. 8. Take advantage of these opportunities to learn about concrete construction!