The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) 2019 Chairman John Harper, Senior Vice President of Construction Partners Inc. in Dothan, Alabama, released the following statement after final passage of the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bills:
“Included in the $48.6 billion in funding appropriated for surface transportation programs, Congress included a new program to make sorely needed improvements to the Appalachian development highway system, support for building out critical commerce corridors to improve safety and speed the transport of goods across the nation, and research programs to expand the use of innovative materials and permeable pavements, including porous asphalt. We’re also looking forward to new innovations that will arise from the new airfield research program and the new Department of Defense program for extending the service life of military roads and airfields.
“Congress has set the stage for a productive 2020 construction season, but now our eyes turn to the future. From the heartland to the coasts, it’s America’s roads that bring us together, so while we’re hard at work building, maintaining, and improving our nation’s infrastructure, we expect Congress to be hard at work crafting a new long-term surface transportation program to replace the expiring FAST Act.”
About the National Asphalt Pavement Association
The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) is the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of the asphalt producer/contractor on the national level with Congress, government agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roads, streets, highways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities. The association provides technical, educational, and marketing materials and information to its members; supplies product information to users and specifiers of paving materials; and conducts training courses. The association, which counts more than 1,100 companies as members, was founded in 1955.