Pave Ahead Discusses Portland Limestone Cement in Arizona

NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Greg Halsted recently presented on portland limestone cement (PLC) at the 21st Arizona Pavements and Materials Conference held at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe from November 19 - 21. More than 400 people attended the conference, including pavement engineers, suppliers, academics and students. With organizers recognizing that any future use of pavement materials must be done in a sustainable manner, Halsted’s presentation was part of a session on carbon-friendly technologies. After an introduction to cements and general properties of concrete, Halsted discussed the potential impacts of concrete mixtures prepared with PLC and what the best practices should be for paving with such mixes. He stressed that communication among all stakeholders; trial batching to confirm fresh and hardened properties; and field verification are imperative.

Sponsored in part by ASU, Arizona DOT and the Federal Highway Administration, the theme for this year’s conference was The Future of Roadways: Accelerating Progress and included workshops, poster sessions, networking opportunities and exhibitors in addition to the technical sessions. Along with sustainability, topics included pavement innovations, pavement preservation, balanced mixture designs, understanding digital data and incorporating resiliency.

In addition to PLC, the Carbon-Friendly Technologies session touched on effective pavement treatments to lower greenhouse gas emissions and carbon reduction strategies for cement and concrete. Based on the number of questions and positive comments, those in attendance learned a great deal from all the presenters, Halsted said. "The conference was an excellent forum to discuss and promote the durability and sustainability of concrete pavements and to educate attendees on the assistance and support available to them through the NRMCA Pave Ahead initiative," he added.

For more information, contact Greg Halsted at ghalsted@nrmca.org.