Description

Public works directors, county engineers, pavement managers, academics and sustainability leaders across the asphalt, infrastructure, sustainability, and recycling sectors will gather September 24–25, 2026, at the National Western Center in Denver for Driven U 2026: An Innovator’s Summit — a two‐day working forum dedicated to the technology and research driving financially and environmentally responsible pavement management.

For the local governments responsible for millions of lane‐miles of aging roadway, the timing could not be more urgent. Every year the United States places roughly 385 million tons of asphalt, even as budgets tighten and communities demand that public dollars stretch further and tread more lightly on the environment. Driven U 2026 brings the people solving that problem into one room: the researchers, manufacturers, and — most importantly — the municipal and county practitioners who are already putting next‐generation materials into the ground.

Why municipal and county leaders should be in the room 

Driven U is built for decision‐makers who own the outcomes: the directors and supervisors who sign off on paving programs, the engineers who specify materials, and the sustainability and procurement leaders who must defend both the cost and the carbon of every mile. Over two days, attendees will get:

• Insights from industry leaders and researchers on the latest advances in pavement performance, durability, and life‐cycle cost.
• Live demonstrations of next‐generation paving innovation, showing real material performance rather than slideware.
• Peer‐to‐peer connection with counterparts from other cities and counties — plus a cocktail hour and hosted dinner designed to turn conversations into collaborations.
• A practical playbook for evaluating new pavement technologies against real budget and sustainability targets, including tools like life‐cycle cost analysis.

A keynote — and a lineup — worth the trip

The summit will be headlined by keynote speaker Dr. John C. Warner, co‐founder of the field of Green Chemistry and one of the most influential voices in designing materials that are both high‐performing and environmentally responsible. He will be joined by a slate of practitioners and specialists whose day jobs are the roads themselves:

• Matt Manthey — Pavement Management Supervisor, City of Mesa, AZ
• Gary Houston — Valero Energy, Senior Manager Asphalt Sales
• Lindsay Matush — Industry Strategy & Market Adoption Leader
• Chris Wacinski — Engineer and VP of Tech at Driven Plastics
• Marie Logsden — Government Comms Specialist and CEO of Driven Plastics
• James Emerson — Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) Specialist

The innovation at the center of the conversation

Driven U is hosted by Driven Plastics, the company behind a proprietary asphalt additive that turns difficult‐to‐recycle, landfill‐bound plastic — everyday thin‐film waste like grocery bags and pallet shrink wrap — into stronger, longer‐lasting roads. The additive improves asphalt quality and extends pavement lifespan, reducing the maintenance cycles that drain public budgets, while diverting plastic that would otherwise never be recycled.

The scale of the opportunity is hard to overstate. An estimated 91% of the world’s plastic is never recycled, and the U.S. generates roughly 38 million tons of thin‐film plastic every year. Driven Plastics’ approach can upcycle up to 10 tons of plastic in a single mile of roadway — and to date the company reports 23.8 million plastic bags diverted and more than 150 tons of plastic recycled into pavement. For communities, that means roads that last longer, dollars that go further, local jobs, and a measurable environmental return on every paving project.

Event details

What: Driven U 2026 — An Innovator’s Summit for pavement preservation and enhancement

When: September 24–25, 2026 (1 p.m. Sept. 24 – 1 p.m. Sept. 25; hosted dinner the evening of the

24th)

Where: National Western Center, Denver, Colorado

Who should attend: Municipal and county public works leaders, engineers, pavement managers, and professionals across asphalt, concrete, infrastructure, sustainability, and recycling

Registration: Attendance is by approval. Register at drivenu.eventbrite.com.