NRMCA, Industry Colleague Work to Convince National Design Firm on ACI 330R-08

NRMCA Senior Director, National Resources Doug O'Neill and Jonathan Kuell, executive director of the Northern New England Concrete Promotion Association, recently met with a national design firm with offices in the New England region to discuss its pavement design recommendations and offer alternatives that would better protect the concrete industry, the design team and the owners involved with the projects.

"It was our understanding that it had already accepted the use of ACI 330R-08 in the section of its specification that recommends pavement options," O'Neill said. "But over the last several months we've continued to see the projects coming out of its offices in New England that still referenced AASHTO design methodology, significant reinforcement recommendations along with larger joint spacing than ACI 330R-08 suggests. These outdated design methods make it not only harder for concrete to compete in the marketplace because of the unnecessary costs associated with overdesign, but also creates a potential liability situation with recommending joint spacing that is outside of the industry standards."

The design team representatives were a little surprised that the changes that it thought had been made were still not showing up in its reports and agreed to take the necessary steps to include ACI 330-08 wording in its recommendations going forward. "Jon and the NNECPA has worked closely with this firm for some time, offering it support and certification classes for its people, so this meeting and the subsequent quality communication back and forth further solidified the concrete industry's relationship with one of the most active geotechnical firms in the country," noted O'Neill.

For more information, contact Doug O'Neill at doneill@nrmca.org.