APAI Article Archive

From the Desk of the EVP
December 2004

**Mike Kvach**

This is one of the most exciting times in Iowa’s engineering history for those involved with pavement designand/or determinations. I predict that in the next several years, engineers challenged with the task of providing their city councils, county board of supervisors, and commercial cliental will become virtual heroes.

Quality, Hot Mix Asphalt Pavements, either as a full depth – newly constructed pavement or an overlay in the rehabilitation of an existing, tired roadway, offers legitimate advantages over Portland Cement Concrete Pavements. Only HMA pavements can truly be perpetual, offering parking lot owners and the tax paying, motoring public substantial cost savings over the life of the pavement.

In this issue of the Iowa Asphalt Report we bring you two articles that challenge the traditional way of thinking about rehabilitating HMA overlays and a thought provoking look at the PCC industry’s push on Ultra-thin Whitetopping. These articles are written by two individuals with nearly 90 years of combined, hands-on experience of PCC and HMA pavement design.

“HMA Notes” is something we’ll be adding from time to time in prints of “The Asphalt Report”. Written by one who is considered to be a pillar in Iowa’s engineering society, Robert M. Nady, P.E. Mr. Nady received his BS in Civil Engineering at Iowa State University in 1949 and earned an MS Degree in Highway Engineering in 1952 with a thesis on Hot Mix Asphalt. Many of Iowa’s current senior engineers received much of their education from Robert Nady as he taught in the BSCE program from 1952 until 1960 and was the Professor in Charge of Construction Technology at ISU until 1973.

Many young engineers have also received training from Mr. Nady when ISU called him back in 1996 to teach HMA and materials in the Civil Engineering Department through spring of 2002. Mr. Nady has spent numerous years further developing his knowledge while working for various engineering firms world wide from India to Haiti to Kuwait to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He founded Nady Engineering Services in 1957 and sold that company in 2001 to Construction Materials Testing which to this day serves as consultant to their staff.

Over 94% of our nation’s roadways and byways can’t be wrong. Hot Mix Asphalt: smooth, quiet, economical, and durable.