Ben Brock, Vice President of Sales for Astec, Inc., explained what the bill means to Astec. "Of course the nice thing about the highway bill is that it gives the industry increased stability. Our customers will feel more confident that they will have work for the next five years."

"We just hope to fill the industry's needs as they arise," continued Brock. "While the federal money is nice, we know that it's not guaranteed funding for Astec. We will continue to improve our equipment and service programs to earn the new business generated by the highway bill."

In addition to transportation improvement projects, the highway bill funds research to improve pavement quality, recycled pavement materials, real-time pavement testing, and other technologies.

"Astec has always worked to stay ahead of the curve as far as new pavement research goes by maintaining close relationships with organizations like NCAT and NAPA, as well as key research universities," said Brock. "We welcome improvements to asphalt pavement and testing methods that benefit our customers and provide better roads for the end user "these improvements only strengthen our industry."

Astec has already seen an increase in sales activity since the new highway bill was signed into law. "The bill is great for the hot mix asphalt industry, and it's great for Astec," said Brock.