The Pavement Avengers – A Pavement Preservation Origin Story (by Chat GPT)

The Florida LTAP Center in partnership with the Florida Pavement Preservation Council presents the “Pavement Preservation Wednesday” Webinar Series.

Attendees will be glued to their seats as the Florida Pavement Preservation Council introduces a cast of pavement characters, both good and evil. See the original Pavement Axis of Evil create mayhem as they seek to destroy every road in the known universe. A brave band of heroes step in to stop them in a last stand that would make Hollywood jealous. 

Directed by Chris Evers, scripted by Chat GPT, and illustrated by Dall E, yep AI is here and assisting (for now). There is trouble brewing as neglect and conflict bring us to the brink of disaster. Can the Pavement Avengers beat back this rising threat to our way of life? Which pavement heroes will assemble to take on challenges across the deterioration curve? Attendees will be entertained and educated as they see the origin story that has brought us to the edge of disaster and meet the cast of characters with one shot to save our roads for good!

This is an expanded version of the hit session at the APWA Florida Chapter Public Works EXPO in Jacksonville April 19th.

Learning Objectives

• Learn about the Preservation Treatments that make up “The Pavement Avengers”.
• Hear who the villains are in our infrastructure’s battle for survival.
• Listen as we delve into the origins of “The Pavement Avengers” and how long they’ve been winning the battle against deterioration and decay on our pavements.
• Take part by asking the experts (including AI!) your burning questions on Pavement Preservation.

This webinar is provided at no cost and will award a certificate of training listing the Professional Development Hours (PDHs) or a certificate of completion verifying your attendance. Certificates will be awarded only for fully attending and completing this webinar. A total of 1.5 PDHs can be earned.

Please note – space for this webinar is limited, and Florida local agencies are being given first priority!

Panelist Bios:

Chris Evers is the Executive Coordinator from the Florida Pavement Preservation Council in addition to his role with Pavement Technology Inc., a company he joined in 2012. Chris was instrumental in the founding of the Florida Pavement Preservation Council in 2010. Chris has over 26 years of experience in the heavy highway construction industry. Chris has been involved in all facets of heavy highway educational efforts. He is the Past President of the American Public Works Association Florida Chapter. His involvement in the Florida Chapter has spanned a multitude of Committee Chairs, Task Forces and Officer Positions. In 2012 he founded the Public Works Director Roundtable and he also moderates the International PWD Roundtable at PWX. He has been an active speaker for APWA, FACERS, ASCE, ASHE, ARRA, Florida T2 Center, and the Florida Airports Council. Chris was recently honored by APWA as a Top Ten Award recipient for 2023. A faithful disciple of Pavement Preservation, he will be our moderator today.

Todd Shields is a professional engineer and project management professional. He is originally from Terre Haute Indiana where he graduated with his BSCE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He is currently the Transportation Asset Preservation Engineer with the National Center for Pavement Preservation, where he joined in October 2022. Previously he had worked for the Indiana Department of Transportation for 28 years in different capacities and functional areas including Maintenance, Operations, Design, and Asset Management. In all these roles he was responsible for developing, leading, and implementing infrastructure preservation-related initiatives and programs for both bridges and pavements.

Chat GPT is the new large language model developed by OpenAI. This new AI was designed to process natural language and generate human-like responses to various prompts and questions. With the help of machine learning algorithms and a vast amount of data, Chat GPT can understand and respond to a wide range of topics including Public Works. It uses a massive neural network with 175 billion parameters and took 1.287 gigawatt hours to produce. Chat GPT was given the task to assist Chris in writing an original script with a new set of superheroes called “The Pavement Avengers”. Hilarity ensues!