The Texas Asphalt Pavement Association has decided to cancel its 2020 Annual Meeting.

Texas Asphalt Pavement Association President Geno Carrier IV made the following statement:

Dear TXAPA Members,

I come to you to share the decision of our board of directors to cancel the 2020 Annual Meeting. Perhaps you expected this, and as a fellow TXAPA member, I believe you know how very difficult a decision it was to make. We wanted to avoid a cancellation, and went through multiple scenarios that we felt might make the Annual Meeting a success. I am personally saddened that circumstances won't allow us to meet safely and responsibly, but I am confident in knowing we're making the right call.

TXAPA members and our TxDOT partners have always championed safety. The decision to avoid assembling a large crowd of people from all over Texas is 100 percent aligned with our declared values. Now is the right and best time for TXAPA to be a beacon, making the necessary sacrifices to keep our members, partners, employees, and association staff safe and healthy. TXAPA is a leader in the industry all across the nation. We are leading from the front to protect the people and communities we care so much about.

What Happens Next?

It's a great question and one we hope to address more fully in the weeks to come. At the highest level, I can reveal that we will not be rescheduling the annual meeting or attempting to move our meeting online. Our meeting is unique in its ability to bring people together and we want to preserve that. Most likely, our path forward will be a robust schedule of TXAPA Live broadcasts throughout September featuring content from the planned meeting agenda. We also hope to mix in some fun virtual events designed to connect us even at a distance. These events will tie in with the TXAPA Scholarship Program, so we can continue to support our industry-sustaining mission to change the lives of deserving students who will become innovators and leaders for Texas.

The TXAPA staff and board of directors are now actively engaged in planning these alternatives and I am confident they will deliver the first-class, value experience we have all come to expect.

To close, I want to thank each TXAPA member for your support and understanding. Countless many of you have told us your own COVID-19 experiences — I know it has been a trying and yet, as an essential industry, a very rewarding time as well. Even without the Annual Meeting, there is much to be done. Please be assured that we are always working to remain aware of issues and opportunities facing the industry and that we will continue to dedicate our efforts to you and your success.

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