Vol.
16, Number 1 |
March,
2007 |
Contents:
Beasley appointed ODOT Director
Governor announces ODOT budget proposal
SAFETEA-LU Appropriations
Workshops, Seminars and Conferences
Ohio Asphalt Winter Issue
New Campaign Contributions Law
OTEC - Call for Abstracts
NAPA Awards
APA administration moves to NAPA
SmoothPavements.com
Employment Opportunity
Subscribe to FPO Publications
Beasley
Appointed ODOT Director
James
Beasley, PE, PS, has been appointed Director of the
Ohio Department of Transportation
by Governor Ted Strickland.
He assumes that position as of March 5, 2007. Beasley
has been the Brown County Engineer since 1980 and is
a civil
engineering graduate of the Ohio State University.
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Governor
announces ODOT budget proposal
Governor
Strickland has introduced the proposed ODOT biennium
budget bill
for fiscal years 2008 and 9. Funding
for the
DOT included in the bill is proposed to be 3.2 billion
in FY 2008 and 3.0 billion in FY 2009 and includes
funding for transit, rail and aviation.
TRAC
funding for major new highway construction is proposed
at $747
million for FY 2008 and $588
million
for FY 2009.
The governor has expresses concerns over the way
in which the TRAC prioritizes projects and the
extent
to which
the TRAC is over-committed. The bill requires a
revision of
the TRAC policy to “require the prioritization
of projects using a method that includes criteria
that promote
economic development, encourage the preservation
and rehabilitation of existing transportation infrastructure,
the expansion
of capacity for all modes of public transportation,
the reduction of traffic congestion in urban areas,
the preservation
and rehabilitation of airports, the improvement
of rail freight services, the enhancement of safety,
and land use
decisions that reflect the requests of local communities.” (Lines
121-130)
The
bill includes authority for increased transportation
bond sales. The Governor has stated
that use of
this authority is contingent upon future revenues
and
expected highway
funding.
The bill continues the process of phasing the
State Highway Patrol off the gas tax for funding.
The text of the bill can be found at:
http://www.obm.ohio.gov/budget/operating/executive/0607/LSC-127_LB_0669_1.pdf
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SAFETEA-LU
appropriations
Congress
has at last approved the highway funding bill for FY
2007. The approved bill provides
the full $39.1
billion that was called for in SAFETEA-LU.
The president was expected to sign the bill promptly.
Next
fiscal year may not be so generous. The Bush administration
has proposed a highway
funding level
of $39.6 billion
for FY 2008, which is short of the 40.2
billion called for
in SAFTEA-LU. Legislative effort will be
required to restore full funding. To that end NAPA
has
scheduled its Legislative
Fly-in for May 8 and 9, 2007.
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Workshops,
Seminars and Conferences
March
20 – 21, 2007: FPO, 45th Annual Meeting
and
Equipment Exhibition
The Flexible Pavements of Ohio 45th Annual Meeting
and Equipment Exhibition is returning to the Hilton Hotel
at Easton. Register now to attend the convention of the
asphalt industry in Ohio. Full details and registration
are available at http://www.flexiblepavements.org/events.cfm?event_ID=88
March
26 – 27, 2007: Asphalt Construction Workshop
Jim Scherocman presents his comprehensive, two-day,
asphalt construction workshop at Sharonville,
Ohio. Full details and registration
are available at http://www.flexiblepavements.org/events.cfm?event_ID=57
|
Jim Scherocman
|
Many other industry events are also
scheduled. See: http://www.flexiblepavements.org/events.cfm for
additional educational opportunities.
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Ohio
Asphalt Winter 2007 Issue
Watch
your mail for the Winter Issue of Ohio Asphalt Magazine.
This
issue features
articles
on Warm-mix
Asphalt, Perpetual
Pavement, and the advantages
of recycling RAP.
View
back issues of Ohio Asphalt magazine at http://www.flexiblepavements.org/ohio_mag.cfm
Sign
up for a free subscription at
http://www.flexiblepavements.org/sign_up_news.cfm
New Campaign
Contributions Law
A
law further limiting campaign contributions, enacted
late
last year, is going
into effect in April. The
new law restricts the amounts
of campaign contributions,
who can
contribute and
prohibits those who
exceed the limits
from holding contracts, whether
bid or un-bid. Read the
language of HB 694 at http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_694
Or,
easier, attend the Flexible Pavements Annual Meeting
and listen to a presentation
on the
subject from an
expert.
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OTEC – Call
for Abstracts
The
2007 Ohio Transportation Engineering Conference
(OTEC) is scheduled
October 23-24, 2007.
Abstracts are currently
being accepted for
OTEC through
March 31, 2007. Guidelines: Abstracts
are to be 150 words
or less and should
include
abstract title, author name, affiliation, address, phone
number and e-mail. Abstracts are to
be e-mailed to: terri.barnhart@dot.state.oh.us Watch
the OTEC website
www.otecohio.org
for regular conference
updates. Questions
- Contact Terri Barnhart,
OTEC Administrator
at (614) 387-3102.
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NAPA
Award Winners
Congratulations
to those member companies
who
received NAPA’s “Quality
in Construction” awards
at the recent NAPA
convention in San
Francisco:
•
Barrett Paving Materials, Inc., Midwest South Region, for
US 50, River Road
•
John R. Jurgensen Co., twice, for CR 25 in Dayton and US
50 in Cincinnati
•
Shelly and Sands, Inc. for US 30
•
The Shelly Co., Twinsburg, for SR 250
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APA administration moves to NAPA
As
of March 1, 2007 coordination and fulfillment for the Asphalt
Pavement Alliance (APA)
is returning to the National
Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA). These functions
have been performed by the Asphalt Institute since 2003.
Karen
Faber, a civil engineer, will serve as APA Coordinator
at NAPA.
Contact information for the APA as of March
1st is;
Asphalt Pavement Alliance
5100 Forbes Blvd.
Lanham, MD 20706-44017
Fax: 301-577-1486
The APA’s phone number and email address remain the
same:
Phone: 1-877-APA-0077
Email: publications@asphaltalliance.com
Visit http://www.asphaltalliance.com for
more information on the Asphalt Pavement Alliance.
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SmoothPavements.com
The Transtec Group has created a website
as a source of information on state DOT pavement smoothness
specifications
in the US. The site contains a wealth of information regarding
smoothness measurement. Visit: http://www.smoothpavements.com:80/
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Employment
Opportunity
Flexible Pavements of Ohio is seeking to fill
the position of Pavements and Materials Engineer. The
Pavements and
Materials Engineer provides the FPO membership with
technical assistance; represents the interests of the industry
before ODOT, OEPA, and various other federal, state
and
local
government agencies; assists pavement owners in the
development of HMA specifications and facilitates the development
of new materials and specifications; facilitates member
involvement
in FPO through communication of issues between the
membership
and agencies regarding paving materials, paving techniques,
paving specifications, environmental regulations, etc.;
represents the interests of the membership on affiliated
industry committees and associations such as OTEC,
ASHE, ASCE, etc.; develops training curriculum and provides
instruction; assists in the development of technical
and/or promotional
publications.
Among other qualifications the person applying
for this position must be an engineer registered in the
State of
Ohio. It is intended that this person will be on-board
on or before March 31st, 2007. Interested persons can send
their resume’ to Clifford Ursich, PE and reference
Pavement and Materials Engineer position, Flexible Pavements
of Ohio, P.O. Box 16186, Columbus, Ohio, 43216. Electronic
submissions can be made to cliffursich@flexiblepavements.org Information received will be treated in a confidential
manner.
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