“The asphalt pavement industry is committed to building quality pavements that deliver high performance and drivability to the public,” 2023 NAPA Chair Christian Zimmermann said. “All contractor’s projects earning a Sheldon G. Hayes Award are measured against industry best practices, rated for smoothness a year after construction, and visually inspected to ensure the project lives up to our promise.”
APAC-Kansas Inc., a CRH Co., of Hutchinson, Kansas, and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) were named the winners of the 2023 Sheldon G. Hayes Award for their work on I-70 in Gove County, Kansas.
“This award acknowledges what we Kansans have always known: Kansas contractors are second to none,” said Calvin Reed, KDOT Secretary of Transportation. “It is the result of exceptional collaboration between Kansas-based industry partners and KDOT who completed the I-70 project with a high degree of skill and attention to detail.”
The Gove County project covered just over 9 miles of I-70 starting 4 miles east of Park and ending at the Trego County line. Nearly 76,000 tons of asphalt was used on the driving lanes and shoulders.
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The Sheldon G. Hayes Award winner is determined through a two-year evaluation process. All highway pavement projects using more than 50,000 tons of asphalt are eligible for consideration. Initially, the project must win a Quality in Construction (QIC) Award, which is determined by numerical scores given by independent pavement engineers based on how well the contractor met specifications and achieved density on the finished pavement. All pavements that meet a benchmark figure earn the QIC Award.
The year after a project wins a QIC Award, it is eligible for consideration for the Sheldon G. Hayes Award. The top-ranked projects from each year are tested for smoothness, and then visually inspected by an independent pavement consultant with many years of experience in the industry. This year, the evaluator praised all the candidates for their high-quality construction practices, which resulted in smooth, safe, and durable pavements.
The award is named for Sheldon G. Hayes, a founder of NAPA and the association’s first Chairman. Hayes spent his entire career striving for better construction techniques and improvements in the quality of asphalt pavements.
