Here is the transcript if you would rather read Episode 1

#pavementmanagement

Blair               

Starting from left to right, what is the number one recycled product in America?

Female        

Paper?

Blair               

Paper?

Female      

Bottles?

Blair             

Bottles?

Female         

I’ll say plastic.

Blair              

Plastic?

Female        

Cans? Aluminum.

Blair              

Aluminum. OK. Will you be surprised to know that asphalt, that stuff that we just recycled in-place, is by weight, the number one recycled product in America?

Female         

I did not know that.

Female       

Well that’s actually good then.

Blair              

That’s great, isn’t it?

Female       

Yeah.

Female        

That’s good, yes.

Blair               

Hey, this is Blair Barnhardt and I’m in Sequoia Forest, it’s a national park in California; to tell you how happy I am to be here today. On behalf of the International Pavement Management Association, I’m just here to spread the news about a tiny seed that can grow into a 2000-year-old tree, and what kind of impact this can have on our country and the world.

I want to have better infrastructure here in America and the world. Right now we have D-Minus infrastructure; everywhere we go we have crumbling roads. And you know what? It doesn’t have to be like that. Every time I come to one of these national parks, I hear “eco-efficient; less carbon footprint; preserve our park”. You know what? We can do that. In some countries, in some states, some cities, some counties are doing that already; just not enough of us.

So I’m not going to sleep, if that’s what I have to do, and I will drive every mile in America to spread the word; driving America for better roads just for you, and here’s the reason why. In-place asphalt recycling, pavement preservation, and a solid pavement management program time and time again saves money; and I’m talking hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars for cities, counties and states. In fact, one state alone, Nevada, has saved over $600 million by doing just this over the last 25 years. So, you know what? If it works for Nevada DOT, it ought to work for every DOT in America, and every city and every county.

So, here’s what we do folks; I travel all over America, I spread the word through video, through blogs, through ebooks, through the university programs that I do. Whatever the message is, it’s going to be the same message; 3-legged stool; pavement preservation, in-place asphalt recycling and solid pavement management. You know what? Asphalt is the number one recycled product. But guess what? We only use in-place asphalt recycling on about 3% of our roads in America. All the rest of it gets milled up and taken back to the plants and brought back to the job site. Well, you know what? The rocks are 200 million years old. They sat in the quarry for 200 million years. We crush them up 20-years ago, brought them out to the roadway and put them in place. You have the best asphalt cement in your roadway, the best rock in your roadway already. There is no need for costly user delay, to mill it up and take it back to the plant and to have 35 tandem dump trucks hauling it back to the job site. In-place asphalt recycling, hot in-place recycling, cold in-place recycling, full-depth reclamation. Get your PCI, pavement condition index established; get that network of roads evaluated by professionals that can give you some direction on the most cost-effective repairs. We don’t have to keep doing things the same way folks.

Now, had we used the same mentality in this forest that we use on the roads today, I would have been standing on a stump because every tree in this forest would have been cut down. But no, we chose to preserve this forest, and many of the gorgeous national parks that we have here in America. I’m asking you America; can we preserve our own roadways now? In-place asphalt recycling, pavement preservation, pavement management.

This is Blair Barnhardt driving America for better roads from the Sequoia National Park in Kings Canyon. Thanks for joining us. We will see you next stop.

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