< PreviousCollins says this generational shift is also taking place among contractors, construction companies, and architectural firms, all with younger leadership. “They’re eager; they’ve grown up with the internet at their fingertips, and they’re used to having a question and immediately being able to get an answer.” Bridger Steel has accommodated these changes with its thorough online presence, and Collins says it has paid off. “We have a very, very strong presence with thirty-five to forty-four-year-olds and forty-five to fifty-four-year-olds.” But the company is still working to provide better online resources to the customer, beginning with information. “We’re investing heavily on the education side so that we can provide that resource for every one of our customer segments,” he says. The company is also working with archi-tects, contractors, and construction firms to accumulate infor-mation about every step of the manufacturing and installa-tion process. Then, it will consolidate this information into succinct, informative materials. Collins envisions an increasingly automated online customer service system for when employees are unavailable. Despite the company having a robust online presence, it is still playing catch-up in machine learning. Using predictive modeling software supplemented by its previous customer “Contrary to fears of automation eliminating jobs, the new machines will help the company utilize its employees in more efficient ways.”APRIL 201940experience, Bridger Steel is looking at AI and virtual assistant software to anticipate customer needs and provide relevant answers if possible. “If you have a question about a metal roofing panel in the snow, what is your question going to look like?” he says. He hopes for a user interface providing readily available information, rather than “burying it inside some PDF on the back side of the resource section of a website.” With a previous background in Seattle’s technology sector, Collins is no stranger to these communications barriers. “We assume too much about the consumer, rather than looking at how the consumer interacts with our brand,” he says, explain-ing that the industry has previously focused primarily on the contractor, without paying enough attention to the owners and decision makers in the building process. Bridger interacts with every member of the building process – steel providers, contractors, architects, and building owners – and each group has its own set of questions and priorities. He sees this new development as an investment in ensuring long-term customer retention. “The brand or the company that provides those answers to them, they’re usually pretty loyal to them afterwards.” The company’s inventive thinking expands to its steel manufac-turing process as well. The company is now experimenting with limited automation, seeing it as an inevitable feature in manu-facturing. In 2018, it purchased several machines designed to perform the repetitive, mechanical aspects of the manufactur-ing process. But the company must ask itself, in Collins’ words, “How automated can this process become? How capable is the piece of machinery we’re investing in?” While he admits the company has not seen what this automa-tion will do to overhead costs, he says that contrary to fears of automation eliminating jobs, the new machines will help the company utilize its employees in more efficient ways, increas-ing manufacturing production. For millennial consumers who prize efficiency and rapid delivery, this is an advantage.Bridger Steel’s modern ideas also extend to its hiring practices. As employees age out of the workforce, the company works to promote largely from within, giving current employees clear knowledge of opportunities. The company has recently begun looking at outside industries for new talent, particularly as it is increasingly embracing younger customers. It is now seeking creative, driven individuals from outside the steel industry to spearhead these new marketing challenges. One new hire included a former elementary school teacher, who brought a unique approach to simplify complex scenarios into easy-to-digest explanations. Other recent hires have back-grounds in search engine optimization (SEO), web develop-ment and three-dimensional (3D) rendering, rapidly creating a new digital workplace when “a few years ago most of our business could be conducted with a piece of paper and a pen,” Collins remarks. He believes this embrace of new ideas is what makes the company distinctive and competitive. “What we do really well is embrace a challenge. A customer walks through the door? Our first priority needs to be to find a solution for them, whether with us or another company.” He describes how the company works especially well with equally forward-thinking customers and that those customers usually become lifelong partners. This thinking drove the company’s decision to build new facilities so close to steel providers like Steelscape. “We’ve aligned ourselves with like-minded partners,” he says.Today, the company has expanded from a single shop to seven locations, with its new Colorado plant nearly ready to open. Bridger Steel has been used not only on housing developments but on the New York City Football Club’s training facility, Walt Disney World, the Churchill Downs racetrack in Kentucky, and various retail locations for the Wisconsin-based Duluth Trading Company. Recently, Collins proudly notes its work in hurricane and typhoon relief both in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, including projects in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Saipan, and Guam.Its embrace of novel ideas has led to Bridger enjoying twenty percent annual revenue growth despite the growing pains of its recent expansions, and the company is poised to reach more customers than ever before. It is clearly attentive to the changing times of the twenty-first century with the experience and mindset to address the challenges and opportunities of the future. “What we do really well is embrace a challenge.”41CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS In the realm of surface transportation construction, the decision about which type of pavement material is used for highways, roads, airports and other facilities comes down to either concrete or asphalt pavement materials. Pavement surface type may be binary, but the choice is based on many subset decisions around many factors. Those factors may include initial cost, ownership or life-cycle cost, maintenance of traffic, network asset management, sustainability, and other considerations that tip the balance for the pavement type. Written by David O’NeillWhile creating demand for its products is an essential aspect of any business, an industry requires slightly more in order to be sustained and develop continuously. An industry that is supported, advocated for and promoted will be infinitely more far-reaching than one where its companies either choose to or are left to fend for themselves. For concrete paving, this is where the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) thrives.Pavement selection decisions involve public policy and funding considerations, and so, the decision process necessitates strong advocacy to inform, educate, and communicate to policy makers. Concrete pavement industry companies have a strong advocate in the ACPA, which for 56 years has served as the voice of the concrete pavement industry. Jerry Voigt, P.E., President and CEO of ACPA, explains the association’s position further. “We are a non-profit trade association and we represent any type of company or individual that is involved in using concrete pavement, so that covers highway work, major airport work, city streets and roads, industrial facilities and so forth – any area where concrete APRIL 20194243CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS pavement is involved. We are contractor-based, but also repre-sent all of the major elements, whether it is equipment manu-facturers, or material suppliers, such as steel, cement, or ready mix,” he explains. ACPA and its network of state and regional affiliates work closely together to represent the industry before agencies and owners who are responsible for building, rehabilitating and preserving the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure.ACPA is the sole trade association that represents the concrete paving industry nationally and can offer insight and support to all facets of the industry. “What we bring to the table on behalf of our members is our unique relationships with federal and state agencies,” Voigt says. “If our members are facing chal-lenging issues, we advocate on their behalf and we can set the bar for high industry standards. Over the years we have developed the experience and expertise to address technical matters. These include specifications, best practices, design, and construction, as well as broader issues such as policies for inter-industry competition, transportation funding, sustain-ability and resiliency, all of which affect the decision-making process,” he explains.“We draw from our more than 125 years of combined technical experience with ACPA staff and a geometric amount of experi-ence that exists among our chapters,” Voigt says, adding, “we work diligently to identify emerging issues and opportunities, while also supporting agencies/owners, engineers, and our contractors with solutions to their challenges.”The association is currently implementing a plan to expand upon a key element of its advocacy efforts: national and local promotion. ACPA, with financial support of the Portland Cement Association (PCA), is currently implementing a new plan to strengthen its promotional efforts. The plan includes investing in new personnel, while also aligning existing resources to scale up pavement promotion programs at the national level. At the local level the plan will increase “Boots on Ground” promotion in states identified through a detailed state situation analysis. Tied to this plan, ACPA also has an eye on shaping the future of concrete pavements in what it is calling “Vision2040.”“Twenty years ago, the association brought together members of the industry, public sector and academia to map out the future of concrete pavements,” Voigt says, adding, “The result of that initiative was a successful concrete pavement road map, an action plan that made concrete pavements better, answered agency challenges, and taught valuable lessons for the power of trade association advocacy.” “If our members are facing challenging issues, we advocate on their behalf and we can set the bar for high industry standards.”APRIL 201944Last year ACPA assembled another blue-ribbon panel of 28 experts for a facilitated discussion. “When we looked back to ask ourselves how we did after 20 years, we discovered that we accomplished about 80 percent of what we set out to do. So, we thought we should do it again because we know from our experience that we can be successful. We asked our blue-ribbon panel far-reaching questions: what does the future of transportation look like? What will owner/agencies’ needs be in the future? How can concrete and pavement support those needs? And how can we go about shaping the future, knowing that we had done it before?”The outcome of this collaborative process became Vision2040, which the association now points to as a comprehensive vision of the future of concrete pavement in the evolving U.S. trans-portation system. Vision2040 is a plan, a guide and an aspira-tional document which attempts to drive the industry forward into the future, Voigt says. Although new markets and products will always emerge and set new challenges for any industry, Voigt is confident that the concrete pavement industry is in a strong position to grow with future developments. “In 20 years, emerging technologies will likely redefine the role of pavements beyond transporting people and goods,” Voigt says. “Highways of the future may play a role in power genera-tion, autonomous vehicle technology, navigation, communica-tions and more. The durability and other inherent features of concrete pavements make them an ideal choice for enveloping many of these technologies, especially those geared toward dedicated lanes for autonomous trucks,” he says.“As it relates to the technology advancements, we remain excited about the current research and technology devel-opment being pursued at the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center on performance engineered mixtures (PEM), which will yield concrete that provides consistent quality every time,” he says. “We are also watching with great interest and enthusiasm the efforts to develop self-healing pavements, automated quality monitoring and reporting systems, machine and device automation advancements, and other efforts that our member companies are research-ing now to improve concrete placing equipment, materials, and paving processes.”While ACPA pursues its new and ambitious plans, the associa-tion also remains hard at work on its core, proactive effort to educate and inform agencies, owners and consultants about the benefits of inter-industry competition. “Competition is the tool that agencies can use to extend the buying power of their program dollars, improve the quality of their paving work by promoting healthy and productive industries, and motivate the concrete and asphalt paving industries to pursue the research and development to shape the future,” he says, adding, “It’s what will help make Vision2040 a reality.” ACPA points to research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to support their assertion on the value of inter-industry competition. After studying 10 years of DOT bid-pricing data from 47 states, including 164,000 projects and 298,000 concrete and asphalt paving pay items, MIT con-cludes that in states where inter-industry competition exists, pavement costs are significantly lower than in areas where there is no competition or little competition. “The MIT data shows that states that have policies that foster inter-industry competition produce more pavements for the same dollar and get all the other benefits that healthy indus-tries provide investment, quality, and innovation,” he says.“We are excited about shaping the future for our industry. There are many exciting things to pursue and challenges to overcome, not the least of which is workforce development.” As an industry, ACPA is looking for new and innovative ways to motivate new people, including young engineers and workers, to look at the concrete pavement construction industry. According to Voigt, “we are in an exciting time for our industry and that should help us bring this excitement to new people.” “Vision2040 is a plan, a guide and an aspirational document which attempts to drive the industry forward into the future.”45CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS All County Paving is primarily in the relationship business. “We’re interested in long-term relationships and repeat business,” says Ken Goldberg, President of All County Paving.APRIL 201946Written by Jesse Doehler-KnoxGoldberg and his business partner Jeff Cohen, Vice President, purchased All County Paving in 2009. Battling through a national recession by building relationships one at a time, they have expanded their business to include three offices in Florida and a National one in North Carolina. “We have three offices in Florida which handle all of our local Florida business. We have a National footprint; we have a sales office in North Carolina. Our National office works all over the continental U.S.,” says Goldberg. The National office primarily works on big box stores, distribution centers and shopping centers, as well as single tenants such as Walgreens, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Verizon.Part of a National organization known as The Pavement Network, All County Paving works with other reputable com-panies across the U.S. to share resources. This network shares local expertise and has created a best practices standard. “We share our financials, we share ideas and we do each other’s work around the country,” Goldberg explains. “We have trust and confidence in each other. That’s one of our strongest growth points.” 47CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS All County Paving specializes in areas of asphalt paving, repair and milling as well as seal coating, Home Owners Association (HOA) management, and site development. “We do pavement management solutions. We can do anything you can walk on, drive on or play on – from your front door to the highway, as long as it doesn’t grow,” says Goldberg. “That includes new construction of parking lots and roads, concrete sidewalks, drainage, infrastructure, signage, striping, car stops, and traffic calming devices.” Pavement is a great option for clients looking for a long-last-ing, quieter, low-maintenance and eco-friendly solution over concrete. Not only does it cost 40 percent less, it is all recycled. “Almost all the material we use is all recycled. We mill it, grind it up and then it goes to a dump truck back to the plant,” says Goldberg. “We pride ourselves on saying that the product we use is the number one most recycled product.”There is a lot to feel proud of. At the beginning of the year, All County Paving won the Parking Lot of the Year Award from Pavement Maintenance and Reconstruction Magazine. The 250,000 square-foot parking lot was for Century Village in Boca Raton and was completed in under two weeks. All County Paving is well-known in Florida for its projects with retail clients, schools and universities, commercial clients, apartments and condominiums. Most notably, the team had the opportunity to build the new parking lot for the Miami Dolphins. In 2017, All County Paving was selected by the Miami Dolphins to construct their parking lot. “We reconstructed the entire parking lot. It was valued at $8.5 million – we did it in four months – which included new drainage, rockwork, concrete, demo, paving, seal coating and striping,” says Goldberg. “When the opportunity came for the bidding process, we were on the top of the list for them. They knew that we were a reputable company; we had the resources and the capabilities to perform it. And we performed. It was literally our best job ever.”When not turning heads with high-profile jobs, the most common work All County Paving performs are municipal road repairs or work for HOAs and planned communities. Municipal road repairs and HOA work entails anything from asphalt paving to maintenance, repairs, sealcoating, striping and signage. For HOAs, the company will pave an entire neighborhood and perform the maintenance. “All County Paving works with other reputable companies across the U.S. to share resources.”APRIL 201948 “Maintenance includes making sure that broken car stops are replaced and any asphalt damage is repaired. If there are any drainage issues they’re addressed right away,” Goldberg explains. “Maintenance also ensures the striping, every two to three years, is restriped correctly using the right materials and methods.” Seal coating is also an option for those who want a more protective layer from sunlight, the natural elements, oil and water.Building entire neighborhoods requires a combination of many skill sets most pavers don’t have. Goldberg explains, “There are a lot of guys that can pave driveways really well but they can’t pave roadways. The guys that pave roadways can’t do parking lots.” Each job requires a different set of skills and completely different equipment. Smaller companies often have difficulty shifting between tasks, but larger ones like All County Paving do not. Certainly, paving entire neighborhoods requires patience, diligence and planning. But no job working outside in the elements, especially in urban areas, is without its challenges. “You have to accept that there are certain things that will not always go well like weather issues, equipment issues, tenant issues when you’re on a property, issues with permitting and municipalities and the Department of Transportation,” says Goldberg. “It’s how you respond to the challenges that makes the difference.” “We can do anything you can walk on, drive on or play on.”49CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS Next >