For the season 6 finale, we dig into how the Women of Asphalt organization continues to help bring awareness about the opportunities that abound in the asphalt industry. In this episode of Pave It Black, Richard and Brett talk with Sheila Barkevich, President of Women of Asphalt and Northeast Division Performance Manager at CRH Americas Materials about how she became involved with the Women of Asphalt and the numerous efforts that the organization is undertaking at both the national level and with their local branches. Tune in to learn more about Women of Asphalt and visit https://www.womenofa ..read more

Proving out technologies and innovations in asphalt mixtures and pavements can be difficult when industry already expects our pavements to perform 20 years or more into the future. In this episode of Pave It Black, Richard and Brett talk with Randy West, Director of the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University about the research conducted at the test track and how that enables the asphalt industry and agencies to quickly evaluate new products as well as find answers to challenges faced by pavement owners. Tune in to learn about the many ways that asphalt research is making a ..read more

Brett and Richard talk with Andy Decraene of AJAX Paving of Florida about resilience. When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022, AJAX was called on to rebuild the Sanibel Causeway within weeks after the disaster. Richard and Brett explore what resilience is with Andy and learn that it goes far beyond just infrastructure and begins with building resilient companies who take care of their people ..read more

While asphalt pavements serve many uses ranging from nature paths to interstate highways, some of the heaviest loads asphalt pavements carry occur at airfield runways and taxiways. In this episode of Pave It Black, Richard and Brett talk with Navneet Garg of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the research work he does at the William J Hughes Technical Center, the National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF), and the National Airport Pavement & Materials Research Center (NAPMRC) to continue to advance asphalt pavement innovation, performance, and sustainability. Listen to le ..read more

Ahead of National Work Zone Awareness Week, the hosts of Pave it Black dive into the Watch for Us campaign, and how member companies work to protect their staff as they maintain and construct our countries infrastructure. Richard and Brett talk with Emily Bay of Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc. about the role that communication plays in safety and how they share information with employees as well as the public. Emily shares some of the measures that Rieth-Riley has taken to ensure that safety is engrained into their company’s culture and remains paramount on their jobsites and throughout the ..read more

In this episode of Pave it Black, we talk workforce and how some companies in the asphalt industry and other technical fields are addressing the staffing challenges they face. Richard and Brett talk with Jason Duininck of Duininck Inc, Jim Sieben of Nova-Tech Engineering, and Mike Kroeker of Willmar High School about the Manufacturing and Production (MAPs)program and how their organizations partner to help students learn about different career opportunities. Listen to learn more about the partnerships that have formed as well as the benefits that the businesses have realized from participating ..read more

In this episode of Pave It Black, the hosts explore the Ray Brown Award and learn more about NAPA's annual recognition of the nation's highest scoring airport asphalt pavement project. Richard and Brett talk with Chris Croom, with S.T. Wooten Corp., about recently winning the 2022 Ray Brown award as well as previous awards the company’s work has been recognized with. Listen to learn how recipients earn the industry's highest honors through a focus on quality and paving projects designed to allow for increased consistency ..read more

In the Season Six premiere episode of Pave It Black, NAPA's Richard Willis and Brett Williams return to discuss the standards the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has developed for Environmentally Preferable Asphalt. Richard and Brett talk with Pat Weaver, former president of Solterra Materials, LLC, about how his company learned about the new GSA requirements and how they ended up being one of the first companies to complete a paving project with these new project standards for asphalt materials. Listen to learn how published EPDs using the Emarald Eco Label tool allow companies to ..read more

In the season finale of Pave It Black, Richard and Brett talk with NAPA President and CEO Audrey Copeland and NAPA Chairman Jim Mitchell about The Road Forward and the asphalt pavement industry’s early efforts toward achieving net zero emissions asphalt pavements. The discussion covers a range of topics from the initial embrace of the program and industry’s goals, all the way to the continued importance for the onward push from all sectors of the industry. Listen to learn about the importance of engaging with the program and everyone’s role in forming the industry’s path to net zero ..read more

In this episode of Pave It Black, we discuss sustainability as it specifically relates to the vertical construction industry. Richard and Brett talk with Kelly Roberts of Walter P. Moore about the industry’s focus on sustainability and how great strides have been made in this area over the last decade. Listen to learn more about how performance-focused requirements and finding solutions on the local level contributes to achieving more sustainable construction ..read more