A while back, I spoke of the results of our most recent survey and one of the surprises it turned up—that 40% of our readers are involved in paving. The more I thought about it, I came to realize that the real surprise was not in the discovery itself but it the fact that we had not asked the question before. This was borne out in conversations I had during the past couple of weeks at visits, first to Volvo CE’s Road Institute and new plant at Shippensburg, PA, and then at Trimble’s Dimensions at Las Vegas, NV, where it was explained to me that (1) paving work seems to have been less affected by the downturn than most other tasks, and (2) dirt workers—particularly those who do the finish grading have an advantage in bidding for paving jobs because they have knowledge of and control over the precision of the preparation work.
With World of Concrete right around the corner—January 18–20, 2011 at Las Vegas—followed by ConExpo/ConAgg/IFPE two months later, paving equipment and practices will be receiving a lot of attention in the near future, so you will want to be sure and check out our January/February issue of Grading & Excavation Contractor to keep yourself up-to-date with what’s moving and shaking in the paving world.
What about you? Have you found yourself able to take advantage of your dirt working expertise when bidding for paving work? How about shooting an e-mail to me at jtrotti@forester.net and telling me of your experiences?