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Since the mid-1980s, TenCate Geosynthetics has been an active member of the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA), a division of the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), the parent company of Geosynthetics magazine. GMA provides engineering support, business development opportunities, educational programming, government relations expertise and industry recognition to its member companies.
TenCate said that of particular importance to our partners is GMA’s influence on geosynthetic specification development. Currently, GMA is involved with AASHTO, NTPEP, FHWA, ASTM and a number of state departments of transportation to review and create updated specifications to increase the use of geosynthetics within government agencies. TenCate Geosynthetics, through the company’s Technical Marketing organization, is closely involved in steering the technical direction and specification generation initiative of GMA. John Henderson, president of TenCate Geosynthetics, serves on GMA’s executive council.
In addition, GMA is actively lobbying U.S. government entities on behalf of member companies, TenCate noted. In October 2017, GMA completed another Lobby Day, which included visits to 28 congressional offices in Washington, D.C. A majority of the congressional visits were centered on the upcoming infrastructure plan currently being debated in Congress. The message delivered by attendees, which is a consistent theme within GMA, is that the incorporation of geosynthetics into infrastructure projects provides longer road life, better performance and lower life-cycle costs. After many years of lobbying governmental agencies, the realization that geosynthetics provide a better way to construct roadways is finally being accepted by many lawmakers and governmental agency officials.
GMA will be hosting the next Lobby Day May 16 and 17, 2018. For more information on Spring Lobby Day, visit https://www.ifai.com/event/2018-gma-spring-lobby-day.
For additional information on the Geosynthetics Materials Association and its activities, visit https://geosynthetics.ifai.com.