FAA focus on aggregates

Over the next year, the FAA is looking to update its specifications for aggregates used in airport runways. On 22 August, FAA pavement engineers welcomed NSSGA members to discuss the physical and chemical characteristics of aggregates for runways along with size requirements and sampling and testing processes.

Operators currently face inconsistent interpretation of aggregates specifications when producing materials for runways across the country. Both FAA engineers and members of NSSGA’s Engineering and Technical Committee agreed on the critical need for consistent education and training so that producers, contractors and FAA regional staff are up to date on the latest regional specifications, requirements and materials for aggregates used in runway construction.

Committee Chairman Darin Matson, president and CEO of Rogers Group, Inc., and committee members also presented ways to streamline FAA’s sampling and testing processes. “With new specifications coming out by the end of next year, it is essential that contractors, consulting engineers and regional FAA offices are familiar with the updates and follow them,” said Michele Stanley, NSSGA director of government affairs. “Otherwise confusion ensues and what is required in one instance might not be in another case.”

This meeting was a follow-up to an initial meeting in January 2016, and NSSGA’s Engineering and Technical Committee members will be involved throughout the update process.

Adapted from press release by Rebecca Bowden

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/01092016/faa-focus-on-aggregates-177/