Dive Brief:

• Alan Curtis, a fixture in the paving business and a speaker and teacher at the annual National Pavement Expo, died last week at 66.
• Curtis began his career with the California Department of Transportation in 1970 and then worked for engineering and testing companies, focusing on identifying pavement defects, figuring out what caused them and suggesting ways to fix them.
• Allan Heydorn of Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction magazine said he learned much from Curtis, who he said, "believed in the industry, he believed in contractors, he believed in doing the job right, he believed in teaching people to do the job right and he energized his beliefs with his actions."

Dive Insight:

Curtis was known at the annual conference by his black Stetson and to pavement contractors by his willingness to discuss their problems and ways to improve their processes. He also had, Heydorn wrote, an ability to explain engineering concepts in terms laymen could understand.