TECHNOLOGY MATTERS |
JESSICA LOMBARDO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
EDC-6 to Impact Asphalt Production Facilities The Federal Highway Administration Every Day Counts initiative adds e-Ticketing to their innovation acceleration program
Gallagher Asphalt, Thornton, IL, uses a paperless process for truck planning, scheduling, e-Ticketing, digital timecards and faster invoicing/payment.
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ince 2009, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has supported new and better ideas to get highways planned, designed, built and maintained with the Every Day Counts (EDC) program. Now in its sixth cycle, EDC-6 Innovations for 2021-2022 includes several initiatives that FHWA feels will positively impact the industry and electronic ticketing is one of them that will directly impact asphalt plant owners and mix producers. "Highway construction projects produce massive amounts of valuable data. Historically, information such as materials tickets were communicated via paper," FHWA says. "Transportation agencies are improving on these paper processes by integrating them into electronic and digital workflows. Electronic ticketing (e-Ticketing) improves the tracking, exchange, and archiving of materials tickets.” More than a dozen state DOTs, including Minnesota, Delaware and Pennsylvania, currently use e-Ticketing for construction contracts with 43 states committing to trying some form of the technology by 2022. Due to the related safety concerns with COVID-19, State DOTs began to introduce specific e-Ticketing guidelines with a greater sense of urgency. Material producers took many steps to transition their scalehouse operations to e-Ticketing to promote social distancing. These
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regulations are providing a clear path for contractors to implement an e-Ticketing platform, sooner rather than later. Will your plant be ready to comply? STATES TAKE INITIATIVE Because of its benefits, many states have been piloting e-Ticketing platforms since long before COVID and are seeing the benefits. "The state of Delaware (DelDot) right now has all of their hot mix asphalt producers and plants up and running fully digital," Matthew Valle, VP of Industry Relations at HaulHub, Inc. says. "That's 16 plants in Delaware that are now feeding into Delaware DOT's electronic portal." The benefits of e-ticketing for states include: ➊ Increased safety: Removing the need for on-site ticket collection. ➋ Labor savings: Less paperwork and manual tabulation of material costs. ➌ Smoother roads: A paver that is low on material and begins to cool down can leave a bumpy surface. Knowing when new material will arrive allows for a consistent flow to the paver, resulting in smoother roads.
➍ Accurate accounting: Better recordkeeping of material usage improves planning for future projects. ➎ Reduced risk: Mitigates disputes over which plant material came from and whether appropriate routes were used. The entire e-Ticketing process can enhance project delivery for an industry that is struggling with how to keep up with an increasing amount of work. "Right now, 41% of the industry will be retiring from construction over the next 10 years," Valle says. "We need to find ways to bridge that talent gap. We need to start putting pieces in place to help with this massive drain that's occurring in an industry that's not attracting people. Digital tools help." The Minnesota DOT (MnDOT) has been ramping up the use of paperless technology for tracking deliveries of hot mix asphalt since 2018. MnDOT has seen the process improve safety and efficiency on road projects. "MnDOT construction projects require tons of hot mix asphalt each year, with over 188 road and bridge projects in the 2020 construction season alone," the Department said. E-ticketing was used on 29 MnDOT
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10/20/21 10:37 AM
