Industry/business: Genie named Construction Vendor of the Year

Genie namd True Value Rental's 2018 Construction Vendor of the Year

March 22, 2019—At True Value Company’s Spring Reunion buying show in Dallas, Texas, the company’s rental division recently recognized Genie, a Terex brand, as its 2018 Construction Vendor of the Year. For more than 18 years, True Value Rental has honored outstanding rental suppliers in the categories of Construction, Party & Event and Service Vendor. To qualify for the prestigious award, suppliers undergo a series of evaluations including sales performance, marketing, website and training support. The judging committee selects the top suppliers based on overall business impact and selects three finalists for each category before choosing one supplier for each award. The 2018 winners demonstrated strong sales growth in each category and provided True Value Rental operators with competitive programs.

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Elgin Sweeper and RoadBotics offer sweepers equipped with AI-based pavement assessment technology to Florida municipalities

March 21, 2019—Elgin Sweeper Company, a leading manufacturer of street sweepers in North America, has partnered with RoadBotics Inc., one of the country’s leading road assessment companies, to offer Florida’s 400-plus municipalities the ability to collect road condition data during sweeping operations, exclusively using Elgin Sweeper street sweepers. The partnership aims to help local government officials managing road maintenance budgets—while facing mounting pressure from citizens to address potholes and other poor road conditions—to make data-driven road improvement decisions. According to Mike Higgins, vice president and general manager at Elgin Sweeper, the partnership with RoadBotics will enable many of the company’s municipal customers across Florida to receive important data about the conditions of their roads as they sweep. RoadBotics’ pavement assessment technology works by mounting a smartphone to the windshield of a vehicle—in this case, a street sweeper. The smartphone collects images of the road surface using the company’s proprietary RoadSense app as the vehicle travels the roads. The data is then analyzed using cutting-edge machine-learning technology, which identifies road surface damage such as potholes and cracks and results in a detailed, meter-by-meter pavement assessment of the entire road network. Government public works officials then use this data to prioritize pavement maintenance in their community.

ACPA supports interstate renewal plan

March 20, 2019—The American Concrete Pavement Association’s Board of Directors has approved a resolution formally supporting the recently released consensus report, “Renewing the National Commitment to the Interstate Highway System: A Foundation for the Future.” The report and plan were the result of language in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act), which called for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to conduct a study on the actions needed to upgrade and restore the Interstate and Defense Highway System. From the study, the action plan was developed and includes 10 key recommendations to Congress, including innovative concepts and actionable measures that are favorable to state transportation agencies, taxpayers, highway users, and the transportation-construction industry. One of the key points of the study is that current spending levels are too low and that $45 billion to $70 billion are needed annually over the next 20 years to undertake the long-deferred rebuilding of pavements and bridges, as well as to accommodate and manage growing user demand. This figure applies to interstate highways only and not the full Federal-aid highway system or other highways.