Credit: Original article published here.

AASHTO – this acronym stands for American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. If you have not heard of them and build precast products for transportation-related projects, then you should.

AASHTO is a non-governmental association, but the voting members are engineers and employees within all the state departments of transportation. Within this organization, there are many subgroups, which deal with design methods and material quality and acceptance issues. There are other committees specific to construction methods, project delivery and contract language.

In addition to committees dedicated to improved administration and services, the technical information generated from these groups is published thought the AASHTO Bookstore. Important documents such as the LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, and the Standard Specifications for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, to name just two. Lastly, AASHTO offers many training options for DOT’s and industry through the TC3 program.

Though voting membership is restricted to DOT members, most meetings are open to the public and industry with non-member registration fees. Typically, these national committee meet once or twice a year to conduct the specific business at hand. In addition to national committees, AASHTO is also divided into four regional subgroups which are available for DOT’s to address those items which may be specific to their region of the country. Those regions are northeast, southeast, Midwest and western states. Each regional group also meets yearly with a technical conference which may include project presentations and vendor exhibitor space.

NPCA staff members Richard Krowlewski, Director of Certification & Regulation, and Eric Carleton P.E., Director of Codes & Standards, attend and participate during important AASHTO meetings and committees that impact the precast industry.

The most recent conferences attended were:

• WAASHTO (Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials), June 10-13, Rapid City, SD
• AASHTO Committee on Bridges and Structures (COBS), June 24-28, Burlington, Vt.
• NASTO (Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials), July 9– 11, National Harbor, Md.
• AASHTO Committee on Materials and Pavement (COMP), August 5^th – 8^th, Cincinnati, Ohio

NPCA professional staff will also attend the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Ga., on September 20 – 24.

If you want to learn more about AASHTO committees and meetings and how you can participate, please contact Eric Carleton at [email protected].