Coweta County Director of Development and Engineering Wayne Kennedy received a different kind of recognition at the Dec. 1 meeting of the Coweta County Commission. He was honored by the Portland Cement Association (PCA) with a Sustainable Leadership award based on cost-savings and environmental sustainability through the use of recycled roadway materials.

PCA Southeast Region Director Bob Nickelson presented the Sustainable Leadership Award in the category of Leadership in Sustainability Policy on behalf of PCA.

Kennedy made the decision in 2005 to recycle the county’s roadway systems using the sustainable method of full-depth reclamation with cement (FDR). By mid-2009, the county completed 85 miles and 998,000 square yards of FDR with cement, Nickelson said.

Full-depth reclamation is a roadway recycling process in which all of the pavement and some of the underlying material is pulverized and treated with an additive to produce an improved, stabilized base, according to the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California. The process can be used on asphalt or concrete roadways to create a high-strength, stabilized base with a depth of 4-12 inches. Full-depth reclamation boasts low engineering and production costs and is environmentally friendly since materials and energy are conserved and old paving material is reused rather than hauled away and discarded, according to the institute.

The Sustainable Leadership Award award was established in 2008 to recognize government leaders around the country for their innovative policies and showcase the projects in their communities that exemplify creativity and best practices for the use of concrete and cement-based products, Nickelson said.

“PCA created the Sustainable Leadership Award realizing that all of us must grapple with the challenge of balancing our economic interests with environmental priorities,” PCA President Brian McCarthy said in a recent letter.

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