By: Larry Flynn
Our April issue marks two firsts for ROADS & BRIDGES; one
pertains to concrete paving and its future and the other to
salaries and compensation.
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.
