AASHTO Names Recycling Leader

Cecil Jones, the state materials engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, has been named chair of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Official’s (AASHTO) task force on recycled materials.

AASHTO is an organization that most state departments of transportation belong to, and its standards are used by DOTs and many municipalities across the country. Jones, who is currently developing the task force’s mission statement, says, “We are trying to promote the use of recycled materials in the highway environment, and develop standards that can be used as a model for others interested in utilizing recycled materials.”

Jones will work closely with the Recycled Materials Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, especially in the development of standards. “They have some standards they are working on,” he says. “Once they are completed, hopefully we can incorporate some them into AASHTO standards.”

He acknowledges that there are challenges, as there is always some resistance to change. “My passion lies in coming up with success stories. Then from successes other successes can be built,” he says. “Look at hot mix asphalt utilizing RAP (recycled asphalt pavement). I remember 15 or 20 years ago that no one wanted to do that. Now it is a standard practice.”