About 26 years ago, Barriere Construction Co. won the top and most challenging award from the National Asphalt Pavement Association: The Sheldon Hayes Award. This annual award is the highest and most coveted prize for the best asphalt paving project in America. It was awarded to Barriere back in 1981 for a full depth Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement section of Highway 23 south of Belle Chasse in Port Sulphur.
Recently, Barriere competed for and was awarded a Mill and Overlay Project from the LDOTD on the same site the built a quarter of century ago. It is the first time funds have been expended on the highway since the original work back in the early '80s. Barriere is pleased to return to the area after so many years to rehabilitate the existing pavement. They began the paving work last week.
The life-cycle values of full depth asphalt on Highway 23 speaks loudly about the durability of Hot Mix Asphalt. It brings safety, stability, reliability, predictability and savings to the citizens.
All the Hot Mix considerations aside, Barriere is most proud of another aspect of this job: Barriere Construction has employees who built and worked on the original Highway 23 project still employed with the company! These men stayed the course with Barriere and are the most experienced.