What’s New This Spring? Technical Advisor, Dr. Ben Bowers Has the Scoop

In honor of the students leaving the university and my own kids who are winding down their semesters, I’d like to start with a dad-joke that my friend and colleague Eshan Dave shared with me. Read to the end and you’ll get the punchline (and can then share with all of your friends). The question: “How many seconds are in a year?”

We’re officially in the middle of Spring. If you’re in the colder regions of the country, perhaps this is when your paving season truly gets started… If you’re in the south like me, well, paving season is a year-round endeavor. We have 4 seasons: Comfortable paving, brutally hot paving, football season paving, “I wish I had a cup of chili” paving.

With that said, the winter months were rounded out in early March with an excellent AEMA-ARRA -ISSA Annual Meeting in Rancho Mirage, CA (which I suspect also has a year-round paving season). A few highlights for me include:

• Networking: This was my first meeting as the ARRA Technical Advisor! I spent plenty of time networking with members. I knew many of you, but during this meeting I realized how many I simply didn’t know yet. The level of kindness extended to me, including inviting me to field projects to see different processes, was remarkable. This is a special organization!
• Productive committee meetings: I learned many of the important things ARRA committees are making progress on, as well as some of the needs in each subdiscipline.
• Learning: Excellent presentations were provided during the ARRA Technical Session by Caltrans about their cold recycling program, Dr. John Harvey about Life Cycle Assessments and cold recycling, and GMU Pavement Engineering the use of FDR for private projects.
• Celebrating: The Recognition and Awards Banquet was a unique opportunity to see and learn about the folks that have had a major impact on the industry and organizations over the year. A big congratulations to everyone who was recognized!

While I couldn’t participate in the Golf Tournament this year, I was envious of the beauty of the course and it’s setting. I’m hopeful that I get to play in a future tournament (Note: I have zero notion of winning the next tournament, or any tournament, ever.)

As the Spring months wind down and we creep towards the summer, you can expect to see our finalized Life Cycle Assessment report published. We are also in the midst of planning content for the Pavement Recycling Summit, which will take place just outside of Nashville in Franklin, TN on October 20-23, 2025. Save the date: I assure you it’s going to be a great lineup! Finally, the Board of Directors has a meeting in June where we’ll be discussing all things ARRA.

Now, drumroll for the punchline: “Twelve. January second, February second, March second… etc.” You’re welcome.