NACE 2011The National Association of County Engineers (NACE) will hold its 2011 conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 17-21 April 2011. As the event comes to the North Star state, it will operate under an appropriate theme: “Guiding with Vision.”

One of the most intriguing sessions that will be held, particularly from the perspective of the geosynthetics fields. One of the key sessions will focus on geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) bridge abutments. These GRS construction approaches have been economical and fast to construct. They abutments themselves have performed wonderfully, and these successes are helping transform the practice.

For example, St. Lawrence County in New York has built at least five GRS bridge abutments in the past year. The Federal Highway Adminstration (FHWA) even filmed construction of these bridges for the compiling of educational tools. Defiance County, Ohio has had a strong track record with utilizing GRS construction techniques. And Yamhill County, Oregon is now putting this approach into use.

Some of the other key sessions at NACE 2011 will surround gravel road design, green pavements, FHWA, and more.

Learn more about the event and register at the conference website:
http://www.countyengineers.org/events/annualconf/Pages/default.aspx