New ARTBA chairman outlines plans for association

By Kevin Yanik| September 16, 2013

Doug Black, president and COO of Oldcastle Inc., was elected 2013-14 chairman of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The election was announced during the association’s national convention Sept. 8-10 in Milwaukee.

According to a press release, Black has been a key ARTBA leader for years, serving as senior vice chair, first vice chair, vice chair at-large, president of the Materials & Services Division and co-chair of ARTBA’s Strategic Planning Committee.

In a Sept. 10 speech, Black outlined several key objectives for the year ahead. First, he said ARTBA will advocate for a significant boost in federal funding for transportation infrastructure as part of the 2014 reauthorization of MAP-21. In addition, Black said ARTBA will be an advocate of facilitating state and local transportation-funding initiatives.

Also, as part of the implementation of MAP-21, the association will push for improved policy reforms that affect the industry’s ability to build and maintain America’s infrastructure.

Another objective is to improve the safety of workers involved in transportation infrastructure construction projects.

“This year, our company had three employees killed in our work zones by third-party motorists,” Black said. “These were terrific employees, husbands, fathers, sons doing everything safely and correctly. Our industry expectation must be zero fatalities, and ARTBA is currently and should continue to lead the charge in discovering and sharing work-zone fatality elimination best practices.”

Black also plans to focus on fostering innovation within the industry, calling it a driving force for the American economy.

“The world is rapidly changing in this digital age and we have to keep up,” he said. “It is part of our charter at ARTBA to foster this innovation – in how we communicate, how we build, how we partner and finance, and how we ensure that the American people get the best return from every dollar spent on transportation infrastructure.”