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PPRA Niagara Falls: getting better value for road maintenance budgets

Larger road budgets would go a long way towards maintaining in top shape highway infrastructure across the United States and Canada. But even considering what is being spent now, are road owners and highway contractors getting the biggest bang for their buck? That’s what delegates to this year’s Pavement Preservation Recycling Alliance conference in the beautiful Canadian resort city of Niagara Falls will find out from October 13-15. “One of the things that I learned in Paris at the first Pavement Preser
August 19, 2015 Read time: 4 mins
Larger road budgets would go a long way towards maintaining in top shape highway infrastructure across the United States and Canada.

But even considering what is being spent now, are road owners and highway contractors getting the biggest bang for their buck?

That’s what delegates to this year’s Pavement Preservation Recycling Alliance conference in the beautiful Canadian resort city of Niagara Falls will find out from October 13-15.

“One of the things that I learned in Paris at the first Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in February was that there is a consensus about a lack of money,” said Ryan Essex, president of the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association (ARRA) and vice president of the Canadian road construction business 8107 Miller Group. “But the time also is fast approaching when no amount of money will keep up with essential repairs if we keep going as we are now.”

He said road owners need practical solutions. “PPR in Niagara Falls will not be about ways to get more money,” Essex told World Highways. “It will be about real life solutions to get more out of the infrastructure dollar. This will be delivered through examples of our history of working closely together to solve these problems.”

The event also won’t be a theoretical talking shop but will examine tried and tested applied technologies. “Importantly, as the conference agenda shows, the event will be about road owners talking to road owners,” said Essex. “We have nearly 300 people pre-registered for the event and many are agency people. They will hear from other agency people about what worked for them, everywhere, in different climates and using different processes.”

To this end, the third day of the conference is dedicated mostly to committee work that will be looking at technical issues, such as specification and guidelines. It all amounts to best practice, Essex explained.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Click here Vsit ppra 2015 website false http://ppra2015.eveyevents.com/ false false%> for registration and mark the date in the calendar -- October 13-15, 2015.

To view the event programme, %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal click here Visit PPRA 2015 web page false http://ppralliance.org/Docs/PPRA2015/PPRA2015_PrelimReg.pdf false false%>.

Delegates can also experience the incredible power and beauty of Niagara Falls, only 130km from the Ontario provincial capital Toronto and directly opposite its namesake in New York State. See the beauty and majesty of the renowned 330m wide Horseshoe Falls with its mesmerising tumbling waters that have attracted everyone from newlyweds on honeymoon to daredevils going over the brink in homemade barrels. Enjoy fine dining and casual eateries in the city, its casinos and live entertainment, spas and leisurely country drives to Niagara-on-the-Lake, cycling adventures and hiking trails.

Event speakers include Larry Galehouse, director of the National Center for Pavement Preservation at the Michigan State University. He will make the social and economic case for pavement preservation. Meanwhile, Buzz Powell, director of the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University in Alabama will update delegates on the latest research.

From Canada, Gerry Chaput, assistant deputy minister in the Ontario provincial ministry of transportation, will lay out just how important innovation is to the increased use of recycled pavement.

But just how well has recycled pavement stood up to the test of time in Ontario? The province’s heavily used road network sees billions of dollars worth of goods transported annually between the US and Canada. Geotechnical engineer Becca Lane, who manages the province’s highways materials engineering and research office, will review a quarter century of carefully analysed provincial data.

Delegates will also hear a panel of experts – owners, contractors and equipment manufacturers - present their thoughts and experience on “method versus performance specification”.

The Pavement Preservation Recycling Alliance was formed in 2011 when the boards of the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association (AEMA), the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association (ARRA) and the 3860 International Slurry Surfacing Association (ISSA) agreed to work together. The alliance is not a separate organisation and the AEMA, ARRA and ISSA continue to exist. The PPRA promotes the technologies, processes and applications promoted individually by AEMA, ARRA and ISSA whose members include contractors, suppliers, public authorities and engineering companies.

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