Quick. The last three roads you drove on - were they made of asphalt or concrete? If you aren't in the paving or construction industry I'm fairly certain you'll only be guessing.

My unscientific survey of road knowledge (and when I say "unscientific" I actually mean "SERIOUSLY unscientific") revealed that quite a few people don't realize that there's a difference between the two materials. I heard variously that concrete is what asphalt is made of, that asphalt is what concrete is called when it is used as pavement, and occasionally that they're two very different road materials. (The last one is true.)

The fact is that the average consumer or driver has little incentive to learn the difference. Paving decisions are made without the input of Joe and Jane citizen. Learning about initial costs, life-cycle costs, rolling resistance, hardness, rutting (but not the animal kind), and the like is just not something that people are inclined to do if they don't get to put the knowledge to use.

Interesting tidbit: One way to determine if you're on an asphalt road? See any potholes or worn down ruts where your tires typically roll? Asphalt.

...and suddenly you think you may just care...

And that's kind of the point.

The truth is that when people find out what the actual differences between concrete and asphalt are they, in fact, DO care. And many care a lot. Enough to talk about it.

You may not realize it, but you probably spend a lot of time talking about pavement. When was the last time you got stuck in traffic due to road work? Tell anyone about it? Chances are good that you were complaining about asphalt without realizing it. (Trust me - the math works on this one. Given concrete's longevity in combination with the number of asphalt roads in America you're likely to endure about 47 asphalt-related traffic jams before you find one from concrete.)  And when it comes to traffic jams from construction and the potholes that bring the construction about it is pretty clear that people are ready to vent. We're not wanting to vent about the people doing their jobs - we're wanting to vent that the jobs have to be done at all. Shouldn't pavement hold up to stuff like tires and weather?



Perhaps that's why there's been so much buzz about this sign and campaign we developed for PCA (full disclosure - Yep, they're a client, in case you missed it)  Minnesota Public Radio, and WCCO (a CBS affiliate) have produced their own pieces on it. USA today and World News picked up PCA's press release.  And the paving and construction industry has been talking about it. Heck - even locals are buzzing.  Why? Because the billboard is placed over a section of I-94 that is currently undergoing its third resurfacing since the 1990s. And because the sections being resurfaced are asphalt.

So, how DO you get people to care what their roads are made of? Ask the Portland Cement Association. Because they're doing it.