Category: History of the Asphalt Institute

Bernard Gray becomes President of the Asphalt Institute.

Consulting engineers for the first-ever turnpike turned to the Asphalt Institute and E.M. Howard, District Engineer in Boston, to garner the expertise on materials and sound engineering practices to construct the turnpike in Maine completely with asphalt.

The Bureau of Reclamation asked the institute to research using asphalt liners to prevent water loss in canals. This research resulted in liner and seepage containers as well as reservoir linings and dam facings on the Pacific Coast.

The Asphalt Institute Board of Directors consolidated the field engineers and districts under five divisions – the Atlantic and Gulf Coast states; the Ohio Valley; the Great Lakes and Midwest; the Southwest; and the Pacific Coast, Alaska and Hawaii.

Fourteen non-member companies were invited to a meeting in Kansas and twelve joined the institute.

With Asphalt Institute membership consisting of 22 producers, Herbert Spencer, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, was named President of the Institute. Membership rose 56 percent and several district offices were opened. He served in this role to 1947.

The Corp of Engineers asked the Asphalt Institute to provide expertise about rock and asphalt for heavy-duty pavements. O.J. Porter proposed the design that would allow the new B-29 bomber to properly operate.

Through W.R. Macatee’s promotional efforts, the Washington National Airport was newly constructed with one million square yards of asphalt.

The Asphalt Institute opens an office in Washington, D.C.

The Corps of Engineers asked the Asphalt Institute to develop an asphalt mix with local sand and filler to stabilize large voids in the Galveston, Texas jetty and make it permeable. This process resulted in numerous stabilization projects with asphalt including a sea wall in Holland.