New York State Can Become More Concrete Friendly

Senior Director of National Resources Doug O’Neill reports that the Central New York Chapter of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) recently hosted a seminar on ACI 330R-08. Most in the room had heard of ACI 330, but no one had yet used it on a project because Central New York is generally considered an asphalt market with very little concrete being specified for pavements. The few concrete pavements that have been designed in this area of the state have either used AASHTO guidelines or local DOT recommendations. Concrete has been historically overdesigned in this marketplace which is primarily why concrete is perceived as being so much more expensive than asphalt, O'Neill said.

O’Neill spoke to the group of 33 architects, engineers and concrete industry personnel, generating some lively questions and comments after the formal presentation ended, along with several invitations to bring the seminar to individual design firms in attendance.

"To some in the room, this was new information," O’Neill said. "Even though ACI 330R-08 recommends that when a pavement is jointed to form short panel lengths that will minimize intermediate cracking, distributed steel reinforcement is not necessary, many old timers have a hard time not putting welded wire mesh in all concrete, whether it’s a sidewalk, patio or parking lot. They have always spec’ed welded wire mesh and they have a hard time believing that, in most cases, it’s not necessary. So we have our work cut out for us, but the good news is that there are enough successful pavements in and around Western New York that we can point to."