World of Asphalt breaks records in 20th year

There was plenty of activity at the Caterpillar booth at the World of Asphalt show in Nashville. (Photo: World of Asphalt)

In yet another sign that the industry is shaking off the lingering effects of COVID-19 and its variants, asphalt paving and aggregates professionals filled in a sold-out Music City Center exhibition floor in Nashville, Tenn., for the World of Asphalt’s 20th anniversary event and AGG1 held March 29-31.

It was the fourth time WOA had been held in Nashville, and the largest iteration of the show in the Music City ever, with more than 440 companies spread across more than 193,000 net sq. ft. of the Music City Center.

“This is our first time attending World of Asphalt,” said Edgar Chavez, North American President of ALLU Group, a family-owned Finnish company that is a family-owned company that designs and manufactures products for processing, separating, sorting, mixing and crushing materials. “During the first day we had more than 15 qualified leads with $250,000 in orders. This is a great show with a targeted audience. We will definitely be back next time.”

The 2022 World of Asphalt show had record attendance of 11,400. (Photo: World of Asphalt)

The first World of Asphalt was held in February 2001 at the Wyndham Palace Resort in Orlando, Fla. as a cooperative effort between the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

The event has run every year since, except during ConExpo-ConAgg years. The 2001 show had 3200 asphalt paving pros viewing 28,000 sq. ft. of displays from 86 exhibitors.

“We’re so proud of the teams that came together to put this event together after the longest hiatus in its history,” said Brittany Weltcheff, show manager for World of Asphalt. “As a result, we were able to bring together more than a record-breaking 11,400 asphalt paving and aggregates professionals to learn, experience everything that’s new and important in our industries and make more than 30,000 connections.”

Dr. Audrey Copeland, president and CEO of NAPA, majority-owner of World of Asphalt, echoed Weltcheff’s comments.

“The last time World of Asphalt and AGG1 came to Nashville, in 2016, we sold approximately 150,000 net sq. ft. of space in the Music City Center,” Dr. Copeland said. “The fact that we were able to use every single square foot of exhibit space the Music City Center had to offer this time, while safely bringing the manufacturers and end users together, speaks volumes about the strength of the asphalt paving industry.”

The next World of Asphalt will return to Nashville and the Music City Center March 25-27, 2024.