Concrete Crushers Have Opportunity

Concrete and asphalt crushing contractors have the opportunity to take part in a booming federal highway rebuilding effort, according to a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) official.

Byron Lord of the FHWA says the federal agency’s new policy on recycling informs contractors that “the first consideration goes to recycling,” and using recycled aggregates. “That’s a big change in the way business has been done,” he remarked.

Lord made his remarks at the annual meeting of the Construction Material Recycling Association (CMRA, www.cdrecycling.org), Lisle, Ill. The CMRA held its meeting earlier this spring in Las Vegas.

Although engineering considerations will always be reviewed carefully, Lord said the new FHWA policy touts the economic viability of secondary aggregates and that it “eliminates inappropriate restrictions” that have been used by some contractors as a reason to avoid using crushed concrete and asphalt.

Concerning their future business, Lord told the contractors and crusher operators in attendance to expect a steady stream of highway-related business. He referred to the “aging and heavy use of the current federal highway system,” noting that vehicle miles per year on the system increased 100 percent between 1970 and 1995—and the mileage is still climbing, with another 67 percent of growth expected by 2015.

Furthermore, truck commerce is putting a heavy strain on rural stretches of the system, as the average annual vehicle weight load in these areas has increased 550 percent in the past three decades.

“There are tremendous amounts of highway that will need to be rehabilitated and re-constructed in the next decade,” Lord stated.

While federal funding has been steady, Lord predicted that there is a $60 billion funding shortfall to be made up “to keep pace with the highway system and maintain its present condition.”

Crusher operators should benefit, but Lord also remarked that some contractors—and state regulators—will need to change their attitudes toward concrete and asphalt recycling. “Large elements of the contracting community still do not understand [recycling] is a profit center,” he stated.

Concerning state governments, he noted, “More than 30 states prohibit recycled materials to be used as a surface material. This has to change. Other states have proven it can work.”