Conference Review
geosynthetica.net attended the 2005 APWA Conference – The Best Show in Public Works Congress and Exposition, held September 10-14 in Minneapolis, MN. The conference was well attended this year with almost 6,500 attendees from all 50 states and 18 international countries. Extremely well-organized, the event started on Saturday with the Pre-Congress Workshops, two of which geosynthetica attended. Lara Peggs sat in on Steve Klein’s Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Permanent Erosion Control and Water Quality Treatment Facilities, and Elizabeth Peggs heard Ann Johnson present Best Pavement Design Practices for City Streets and County Roads.
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| Erosion control workshop – geosynthetics? Yes! | Road design workshop – geosynthetics? No. |
Geosynthetics were heavily encouraged in the erosion control portion of Steve Klein’s day-long workshop, "Rock without filter material, is just rock! Riprap must have a filter…these days, we are dealing with mostly geotextile filter material." He spoke about the benefits of cabled concrete backed with geotextile, and products like A-JAX, an interlocking concrete block partnered with geogrid reinforced soil. He then moved on to turf reinforcement mats (TRMs) and though this material has been around for about thirty years, surprisingly, only a quarter of the room had heard of them before. Steve asked Frank Pace of SI Geosolutions to gave a brief presentation where the attendees could feel the material and learn the advantages of using them in Public Works projects. (We need more of this kind of interaction with the Public Works decision-makers!!) Frank let the audience know that design manuals (and some installation manuals) are available and downloadable from several company websites that provide these type of permanent non-photo degrading materials.
A different story regarding Elizabeth Peggs’ experience in the workshop on roads. A wonderful job was done by Ann Johnson who presented Minnesota LTAP’s most requested workshop on best practices for pavement design where she talked about soil factor, R-value thickness, and introduced MnDOT’s innovative MnPAVE for thickness design method software. The workshop went from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm – and geosynthetics were discussed for the first time at 3:05 pm! When asked about using geogrid as reinforcement, Ann remarked, "We would love to believe they work, but we need somebody to prove it to us." Why does the MnPAVE software program not include geosynthetics as a factor in design when MnDOT is one of the most progressive transportation departments in the US? gsa is putting out the call to the geosynthetics community: This matter needs serious attention and improvement.
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| Welcoming entertainment at the opening of the Expo. |
Sunday saw the opening of the Exposition. Lined up eagerly outside the show floor doors, attendees were warmly welcomed by a twelve-member Scottish ensemble in full regalia. They were ushered inside á la The Pied Piper as the group led everyone down the middle of the exposition, where over 400 exhibitors filled the Minneapolis Convention Center, only 10 of which were geosynthetics-related. Several of geosynthetica’s supporters had booths including Tensar, North American Green, GSE, and BBA Fiberweb.
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| BBA Fiberweb’s booth at the APWA 2005 exhibition – one of a few geo-booths in the room. |
Dedicated floor time ended and the sessions began. geosynthetica attended a few erosion control and roads presentations, but our interest was piqued by Consultant Errors/Omissions – Who Should Pay? Scott Crain of The City of Merriam, Kansas, spoke to a standing room only crowd about where the responsibility lies when something goes wrong on a project – and how to avoid it. This only strengthened geosynthetica’s resolve to continue with its plans on creating the Geosynthetics Risk Management and Loss Control Program (GRMLCP).
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| Speaker Scott Crain (center of inset) presented Consultant Errors/Omissions – Who Should Pay? to a very full room |
The Minnesota Chapter welcomed conference-goers at their "Northern Woods" themed get acquainted party held on The Plaza of the Minneapolis Convention Center. The band R-Factor entertained while food and games were shared by all.
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| The outdoor get acquainted party on The Plaza. |
Where do we go from here?
gsa’s visit to APWA’s conference this year was mostly a fact finding mission, in that we wanted to experience the where the disconnect between geosynthetics and Public Works was. The "Best Show in Public Works" it is – but not yet for geosynthetics. Quite frankly, this report is late in coming. The conference was held nearly a month ago, and I have been contemplating how to write this review from a geosynthetics view-point. As you have read, the subject matter is scant – and I think this is the main point that we must address. Geosynthetics are sorely under represented in this arena and we need to do a better job next year of putting ourselves in front of the powers that make the Public Works decisions. Elizabeth Peggs is working to increase our representation from both a technical and marketing standpoint. Please contact Elizabeth if you are interested in participating.
