VECAT Pilot Classes Held in March and April

The instructors for the Level I class were from VDOT (Rob Crandol), Lane Construction Corporation (JR Glascock), Luck Stone (John Hellyer), Astec (Daniel Francisco), T2ASCO (TJ Young) and Superior Paving (Terry Roof, Danny Poole, and James Terrell).

Following the Level I class, the Asphalt Plant Level II class was held on March 9 and 10 at the GCC-Fredericksburg campus.  This class was held for 15 students wishing to obtain a VDOT Asphalt Plant Level II Technician certification.  Students were trained on the duties of the Level II technician, the standard tests run by the technician during mix production and VDOT’s MITS/PLAID software.  The instructors for the Level II class were from Hi-Tech Asphalt Solutions (Mike Dudley), Huner Consulting (Mike Huner), VDOT (Angela Beyke) and VAA (Trenton Clark).

The following week, the Asphalt Field Level I and II pilot classes were held.  For both classes, students were attending the class at two GCC campuses.  The live teaching was performed at the Fredericksburg campus for 27 students.  At the Culpeper campus, 23 students participated through a live video and audio feed to the Fredericksburg campus.  The Level I class started on March 15 and concluded at noon on March 16.  While the topics were the same as the standard Asphalt Field Level I class, the presenters on the topics were different.  Billy Green of Straightpath Consulting stressed asphalt paving and work zone safety; Trenton Clark of VAA covered surface preparation; Tom Chastain of Wirtgen America discussed milling for quality; Brian Horner of Etynre reviewed the basics of tacking and tack coat distributors; Jeff Ensell of Roadtec gave an overview of material transfer vehicles and paver operations; and Mark Sterling (Caterpillar) and Frank Harris (Carter Machinery) outlined the compaction of mats and joints.  On the morning of March 16, John Ball of Top Quality Paving gave an entertaining and informative presentation on identifying and correcting mat defects during paving.

The Level II of the Asphalt Field certification course was held from 1:00 p.m. on March 16 to 4:00 p.m. on March 17.  Mike Huner (Huner Consulting) and Trenton Clark (VAA) trained 40 students (20 in Fredericksburg and 20 in Culpeper) on the current VDOT asphalt field related specifications, density testing procedures and common field math problems.  While much of the information in the pilot class was the same as the standard class, the format was modified based on input provided by GCC professional instructors.

Overall, the comments by the students and instructors were very encouraging.  A second VECAT Asphalt Plant Level I and Level II class was held April 12-14 at the Fredericksburg campus.  This Level I class had 20 students and the Level II class had 13 student.  In the coming months, VECAT will begin efforts to refine the existing VDOT materials certification classes - Asphalt Mix Design, Surface Treatment and Slurry Seal.  In addition to these classes, planning has started to develop training for Full-Depth Reclamation, Cold Asphalt Plant and Cold Asphalt Field.  The cold asphalt classes will focus on the design, production and placement of cold plant recycled asphalt and cold in-place recycled asphalt. 

Feel free to contact Trenton Clark tclark@vaasphalt.com for more information on VECAT.