Paving the way to Orlando

By: Allen Zeyher

World of Asphalt 2001 and the National Asphalt Pavement Association's (NAPA) Annual Convention will be held Feb. 4-8 at the Wyndham Palace Resort, Orlando, Fla. NAPA is producing World of Asphalt 2001 with ConExpo-Con/Agg Show Management Services.

The show will feature educational sessions, outdoor paving demonstrations and over 20,000 sq ft of indoor and outdoor exhibit space showing the latest equipment and services offered by leading vendors. Opening ceremonies are Sunday evening, Feb. 4. Exhibits and educational sessions run Feb. 5-7, and live paving demonstrations are on Feb. 7.

NAPA also is planning a special training program called "People, Plants and Paving" for Feb. 8.

The welcoming reception for the NAPA annual convention and the opening ceremonies for World of Asphalt take place Sunday evening.

For the opening general session Monday morning, the keynote speaker is retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Workshop sessions from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. cover issues such as the outlook for oil, aggregates and construction equipment and how to use e-commerce to benefit your business.

Tuesday starts off with the NAPA awards breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. The workshop sessions cover topics concerning the environment and life-cycle cost (10:30 a.m. to 12 noon).

The show really gets rolling on Wednesday with a second general session from 8 to 10 a.m. titled "Meeting the Competition." Those in attendance will hear about effective marketing strategies and tools for marketing hot-mix asphalt as the preferred paving material. The workshop sessions (10:15 to 11:45) will discuss the techniques to be used in the live paving demonstrations later that day.

The rest of the day, from noon until 4 p.m., is reserved for the World of Asphalt live paving demonstrations. Jim Warren of the Asphalt Contractors Association of Florida and Roger Sandberg of NAPA act as narrators for the demonstrations and will provide additional commentary.

"These demonstrations will be more than just showing off equipment," said Sandberg. "They will be an educational and training exercise of paving technologies to teach proper techniques to show attendees."

Visitors to World of Asphalt's outdoor demonstration area can witness paving, rolling, shouldering and reclaiming practices as performed by manufacturers such as Cat, Compaction America, Dynapac, Hamm Compactors, Ingersoll-Rand, Sakai and Stone Construction Equipment.

Proper and poor rolling practices will be demonstrated using a Florida "S-2" mix on five lanes laid out in the 10,000-sq-ft region.

Proper practices to be demonstrated include rolling a butt, transverse and tapered joint, pneumatic roller practices and Superpave compaction tips.

The agenda includes:

• In the first pass on Lane 2, CMI will cut and reclaim about 4 in. of material, followed by Orlando Paving using single-drum vibratory rollers for compaction;

• Blaw-Knox will make a pass on Lane 4, demonstrating bad paving practices and consequences, such as cold screed, maladjustment of screed and poor dumping practices;

• Wirtgen will mill about 2 in. off Lane 3 before paving, with special emphasis on quality milling practices and leaving a safe pattern behind to drive on while using a conventional milling drum;

• Midland will create Lane 1 using a widener and producing a 4-ft tapered shoulder;

• Cat will lay 2 in. of asphalt on Lane 3 using a paver and windrow elevator, with particular emphasis on properly pulling off of a transverse joint. Cat also will provide the rolling train for this pass, with emphasis on rolling the transverse joint;

• Roadtec will place a new 2-in. lift of asphalt on Lane 5, demonstrating how to avoid segregation with good paving practices. Compaction America will demonstrate compaction techniques on this and the previous lift on Lane 5;

• On Lane 4, Cedarapids will demonstrate proper paving techniques involving construction of a notched, tapered joint and also will demonstrate good compaction processes when dealing with a notched, tapered joint.

The conference closes with a general session on Thursday, Feb. 8, from 8:30 to 11 a.m., devoted to the legislative outlook for asphalt pavement.