Over the 170-year plus history of the American concrete pipe industry, precast concrete pipe products have not been the only choice for specifiers. Alternative materials have ranged from wood to clay to steel and thermoplastics and now there are composites. However, there has never been a time as there is now when there have been as many choices of alternative materials for pipeline systems and culverts. In addition, while choices are being made, new materials are being introduced to the marketplace. The traditional and new competitive materials are flexible pipe commodities that are mass produced and sold directly from the source, or through a national network of distributors. Concrete pipe, on the other hand, is an engineered product available only from the concrete pipe production facility……
(Article published in CPI.)
