The Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association continues to monitor the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on our industry. The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak remains extremely fluid and any status may change rapidly. Here are updates as of April 8, 2020:
Due to widespread community transmission in the United States and since Illinois has determined that highway construction and maintenance is an essential service, many highway construction companies are considering implementing mitigation activities to protect our employees, families, customers, and communities, to minimize the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, to protect the healthcare system, and to minimize the social and economic impacts of respiratory virus infections including the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Curran Contracting, an IAPA Plant Mix Member, has worked diligently to prepare for and more recently respond to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The Curran COVID-19 team meets daily to discuss questions and situations that require a response, practice "dry run" examples of situations, and overall make sure the team is ready to respond as per CDC guidance. Ed Muncie, Curran's V.P. Risk Management and IAPA's Environmental, Health, & Safety Committee Chair, will provide an overview of Curran's COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan on a webinar scheduled for April 15, 2020 at 11:00 AM.
The National Asphalt Pavement Association has highlighted a video tutorial from CRH Americas Materials on what road construction workers can do to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus. The video is intended to help other companies educate their employees as well.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has published guidance to provide information to employees and employers about how each will be able to take advantage of the protections and relief offered by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) that went into effect on April 1, 2020.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sent a letter to Congressional leadership on April 6 requesting the immediate injection of $49.95 billion to offset an estimated 30 percent loss in state transportation revenues over the next 18 months. AASHTO is requesting that the nearly $50 billion be distributed to state DOTs via formula funding, a figure that includes $16.7 billion to cover revenue losses for the remainder of fiscal year 2020 and $33.3 billion for FY 2021.
