What's New with ISSA Technical Director Bob Jerman- February 2023

Well, 2022 is in our rear view mirror, hopefully, it had much more encouraging outcomes (both personal and professional) for all of us after rising up together from the many challenges brought on by the pandemic.  Looking forward into 2023, there is much to be excited about (again, personally and professionally) as we continue to work together to complete multiple ongoing technical projects while also identifying new initiatives that will extend the performance of our core disciplines beyond our current levels. 

Following the success of the 2023 Slurry Systems Workshop in January comes opportunities for those to participate in the Virtual Slurry Systems Workshop. Included in the Virtual Workshop are virtual “Office Hours” for attendees to participate in a question and answer session.  These are designed as follow up sessions for you to get clarification on anything that was presented by engaging subject matter experts during live video conference calls.  There will be one on Micro Surfacing and Slurry Seal today from 3-4 pm (EST), one on Chip Seal and Fog Seal on Tuesday, February 21^st from 11am-12pm (EST), and one on Crack Fill Treatments on February 23^rd from 3-4pm (EST).  The Virtual Workshop is available thru Friday, February 24, 2023. If you are interested in registering, please contact Tessa Poffenberger with ISSA at tessap@cmservices.com.

Continuing to expound on the information from the presentation at the technical session at the Workshop, changes to our technical documents can be initiated in a variety of ways.  One such way is through the suggestion of a committee member.  Recently, while preparing a presentation, a committee member noted that we had not included a section on how to construct Test Strips in our ISSA Design and Inspection Manual for Slurry Surfacing Systems.  After reaching out to the team that put together the latest version of the “Manual”, we recalled discussing test strips at length but realized that we had omitted that section when revising the Manual.  In recent weeks, we met and completed a new section on “Test Strips”.   The new section includes ISSA’s position on Test Strips, Steps in the Evaluation of the Test Strip, and Test Strip Acceptance, as well as a couple of new Inspector’s Notes on test strips.  As soon as the newly updated Manual is available for you to download, we’ll send out a notification.

Also at the Workshop technical session, updates/presentations were given by the Full Gradation WTAT study group (a working group under the direction of the Micro/Slurry Committee), the Chip Seal Committee, and the Crack Treatment Committee.  While the first speaks for itself, the latter two are both working diligently on revisions to their A165 and A175 Guidelines respectively, with goals to completely rework them in 2023.  Feedback from many of you regarding our “ISSA Forum” calls last year has encouraged us to continue them this year.  Hopefully, with the news spreading about these calls, even more of you will participate. 

With nearly three decades in this industry, I can say that I have never been more encouraged about the level of cooperation that we are currently experiencing across the many organizations, associations, and agencies that participate and partner with each other to make up the pavement preservation industry.  The addition of four new ISSA Board members later in the month, the marked increase in agency (Federal, State, and Local) membership and participation in ISSA, along with our ever-expanding leadership development group are just three indications that 2023 is going to be a great year.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any of your ideas, or questions.

"Every day is a gift!  Never take a single one for granted!"

Sincerely,

Bob Jerman

ISSA Technical Director