LENAWEE COUNTY, MI — During its Annual Meeting, the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) lauded the winners of the 2024 Larry H. Lemon Awards for excellence in construction of an asphalt pavement using less than 50,000 tons of asphalt. This award recognizes the 10 highest-scoring projects submitted for a Quality in Construction Award in the General Paving (less than 50,000 tons) category.

“The asphalt pavement industry is committed to building high-quality projects that deliver superior performance to the traveling public. All contractors’ projects earning a Quality in Construction award are measured against best practices designed to live up to that commitment,” said 2024 NAPA Chairman, Brady Meldrem of Norris Asphalt Paving Co.

The 2024 winner in the Michigan Contractor & Builder area is Gerken Paving, Inc., of Napoleon, Ohio, for the M-34 and Industrial Highway in Lenawee County, Michigan.

Projects submitted for a Quality in Construction (QIC) Award are evaluated by an independent pavement engineer who assigns each project a numerical score based on how well the contractor met specifications and achieved density on the finished pavement.

The award is named after Larry H. Lemon of Haskell Lemon Construction in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Lemon served on the NAPA Awards Committee for 18 years, before serving as NAPA Chairman in 2010 prior to his retirement. Lemon was instrumental in the creation of the rating system for the QIC Awards, which requires qualitative analysis using data and test results to determine the winners.