California High School Replaces Asphalt Parking Lot with Concrete

As reported in late May by NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Jon Hansen, a number of school districts were looking at concrete options for replacing their existing asphalt parking lots. One of the recently completed projects is the Monache High School located in Porterville, CA. "NRMCA’s involvement began in April 2012 when I received a call from the facilities director for the school district asking about our Design Assistance Program (DAP) that he learned about from our Web site," Hansen said. "My colleauge Amanda Hult prepared a jointing plan and confirmed the concrete thickness determined locally. The DAP then became part of the bid documents."

During the design and material selection phase of the project, solar reflectance was a priority of the facilities director for reason revealed below, but not for the school's Board of Directors. Subsequently, Board members have commented about how they are surprised that the concrete parking lot is so much cooler than the old asphalt.

The project was constructed by the Toneman Concrete Corporation which has done work for many NRMCA national clients. The school district gave Toneman a fairly short schedule for rebuilding the parking lot because a system of solar panels is being installed on the new lot and the project needs to be completed before the start of school on Monday, August 13.