Does your road agency or customer deserve to stand in the spotlight for its pavement preservation program? Give it the opportunity by entering the Sorenson Award competition! Superior pavement preservation programs are recognized by FP2 Inc.’s James B. Sorenson Award for Excellence in Pavement Preservation. The Sorenson Award is presented by FP2 Inc. to recognize superior pavement preservation practice, usually to a city, township, county or state agency.
Pulaski County, Ark., Winner of 2023 FP2 Sorenson Award
WHO WAS JIM SORENSON?
Jim Sorenson (1949-2009) was senior construction and system preservation engineer, FHWA Office of Asset Management, and he was a great champion of pavement preservation at the national level. He was born in Montana on July 28, 1949, and received a B.S.C.E. in 1976 from Montana State University at Bozeman, where he had worked as an engineering assistant to the city engineer following four years in the Vietnam War. Mr. Sorenson worked in several FHWA field and headquarters offices, culminating in his position in the Office of Asset Management, where he traveled the country promoting pavement preservation to state and local road agencies, when he was not leading the effort to fund pavement preservation at the national level. There he was responsible for technical assistance, policy development, and research guidance in the areas of construction and maintenance operations, transportation system preservation, asset management, and FHWA’s external Quality Management Program.
THE SORENSON AWARD
Jim Sorenson is named an honorary member of ISSA by immediate past president Don Kaiden at the joint AEMA-ARRA-ISSA meeting in Baja California in February 2008
The pavement preservation industry had no greater friend, and FP2 honors Jim’s memory with the Sorenson Award. Intended to recognize agency pavement preservation, the Sorenson award is usually presented to municipal or county road agencies, or state departments of transportation. Intended to recognize an agency’s preservation program, the Sorenson Award application is open to any level of government. Nominations may be made by the agency or in cooperation with industry. Nominations should include a write up of how the agency gained acceptance and support for its pavement preservation program:
- How long the program has been in existence
- Examples of any unique preservation applications or techniques utilized in their system
- Any special or unique public awareness actions; press releases
- The contact person in the agency
- The person or firm making the nomination
The award criteria are as follows:
- Acceptance of pavement preservation concept by elected officials, general public, employees and industry (40%);
- Demonstration of the preservation principles by using the Right Treatment, on the Right Road, at the Right Time (20%);
- Use of communication techniques to keep the public notified about upcoming preservation road work in the area (10%);
- Uniqueness of the program, including documenting tangible benefits such as increased useable life of the pavement, new concepts or applications employed, reduced user delays during treatment applications, and decreased frequency of reconstruction and major rehabilitation or reconstruction (30%).
In order to be considered, the application must be endorsed by an official of the submitting agency such as commissioner, chief engineer or similar person of responsibility. In addition, an agency official shall be required to accept the award at a regional or national pavement preservation partnership meeting and be prepared to do a presentation on their submittal, their program, their successes and their lessons learned for other agencies benefit. Travel and per diem to attend the meeting will be provided by FP2 Inc. This is a very prestigious national award and is the ultimate recognition to an agency for their excellence in exhibiting an outstanding program of pavement preservation and pavement management. For more information, or to submit nominations, please contact FP2’s executive director, Rick Church, 800 Roosevelt Road C-312, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137, voice 630.230.1397, [email protected].
The deadline for entries for the current year is Aug. 1, 2024
PAST FP2 AWARD WINNERS FP2 awards given 2005-2007 were called the Pavement Preservation Excellence Award. In 2009 it was renamed the James B. Sorenson Award for Excellence in Pavement Preservation.
2005 – City of Los Angeles, Calif.
2006 – Frederick County, Md.
2007 – City of Nashville, Tenn.
2009 – California DOT (Caltrans)
2010 – County of Rockland, NY, Department of Highways
2013 – New Hampshire DOT
2014 – Charleston County, S.C.
2015 – L.A. Bureau of Street Services
2016 – Ohio DOT
2019 – Town of Moraga, California
2020 – Town of Lexington, Mass.
2021 – Elmore County, Ala.
2022 – Polk County, Fla.
2023 – Pulaksi County, Ark.