Pave It Black: The Official Podcast of NAPA

This week we talk safety with Coral Todd, an Environmental Health and Safety leader at Duval Asphalt and an active member of NAPA's Health and Safety Committee. Coral shares her unconventional path into the asphalt pavement industry and explains why she believes safety is really about stewardship, not just rule enforcement. We discuss her WINS framework for building practical safety improvements from the ground up and how public trust starts with the standards crews hold themselves to every day. This season is sponsored by FleetWatcher by AlignOps. Watch FleetWatcher in action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Auburn University professor Jeff LaMondia joins Richard & Brett to explore a side of infrastructure planning that rarely gets discussed: the behavioral data behind where and why people travel. Jeff explains how understanding daily commuting patterns, remote work trends, and even vacation travel habits directly shapes decisions about where roadway investment and pavement rehabilitation happen. He also dives into resilience planning, sharing how his research on work zone impacts and airfield pavement helps agencies prepare infrastructure for extreme weather, sea level rise, and other long-term risks. This season is sponsored by FleetWatcher by AlignOps. Watch FleetWatcher in action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Pave It Black, three generations of the Lemon family, Larry, Jay, and Jack, share what it's like running a family-owned asphalt paving business that's been a NAPA member since 1955, from how they each found their own path into the business to the mentors who shaped them along the way and what it means to be an industry leader. Tune in for a candid conversation about the responsibility of leadership and how to balance a growing business with protecting family time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a slab of asphalt end up inside the Smithsonian? In this episode of Pave It Black, NAPA legends Peter Wilson and Ron White explain how the asphalt pavement industry became part of the National Museum of American History's America on the Move exhibit, a look at transportation's role in shaping the country. Wilson and White walk through the fundraising campaign that made the exhibit possible, the logistics of producing and transporting a finished asphalt sample across state lines, and the installation process at the Smithsonian itself. This season is sponsored by FleetWatcher by AlignOps. Watch FleetWatcher in action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to build a world-class research institution? Former and current NCAT Directors, Ray Brown and Randy West join us to tell the story of a two-person operation to a 50+ person research powerhouse. Ray and Randy walk through the industry shift that made NCAT necessary and share major research breakthroughs that reshaped how state DOTs design and fund roads. Looking ahead, Ray and Randy share their predictions for the asphalt pavement industry, along with why investing in the next generation of pavement engineers, through programs like the Road Scholars Fellowship, matters as much as any single research finding. This season is sponsored by FleetWatcher by AlignOps. Watch FleetWatcher in action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.