Eight Rules for Effective Concrete Streets & Roads Advocacy – Part 4

This initiative began in October 2008 with the belief that ultimately we would have to have the Florida Legislature put into law, legislation which dictated to the FDOT a fair two pavement system. However, prior to our soliciting the support of senators and representatives, we needed to “exhaust our administrative remedies”. Invariably, a legislator will say, “I’d love to file that bill for you, but you need to talk to the agency and see if they are willing to compromise.”

Accordingly, a meeting was held with our members and the FDOT Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos and her staff. The Department did not have an “Aha!” moment saying that we were right and designs would change and a competitive two pavement system would be installed. However, this first meeting was critical to our laying the groundwork as to what we expected from the FDOT, what we expect from the Department going forward and the fact that we would only go so far before we looked for a legislative solution.

Numerous meetings with the FDOT would follow, where our members went in fully prepared with well-defined objectives and a choreographed approach. The meetings would end with a to-do list and plans for a follow-up meeting. Whether it was a life cycle cost comparison presented by Karl Watson, Jr. or a PowerPoint on the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide by Dr. Mike Darter, we were going to present strong evidence that concrete should be the pavement of choice.

Written by Tim Kuebler, Chief Government Affairs Officer, Titan America. Read more at www.titanamerica.com, or look for news on Twitter and Facebook

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/30052013/effective_concrete_advocacy_part04/