Honoring Jim Sorenson: The Legacy Behind FP2’s Pavement Preservation Award

Roots of Sorenson Award

Jim Sorenson (1949-2009) was senior construction and system preservation engineer, FHWA Office of Asset Management, and a champion of pavement preservation at the national level. He received a B.S.C.E. in 1976 from Montana State University at Bozeman, where he had worked as an engineering assistant to the city engineer following four years in the Vietnam War.

Sorenson worked in several FHWA field and headquarters offices, culminating in his position in the Office of Asset Management, where he traveled the country promoting pavement preservation to state and local road agencies, when he was not leading the effort to fund pavement preservation at the national level. There he was responsible for technical assistance, policy development, and research guidance in the areas of construction and maintenance operations, transportation system preservation, asset management, and FHWA’s external Quality Management Program.

FP2 honors his memory with the Sorenson Award. Intended to recognize agency pavement preservation, the Sorenson award is usually presented to municipal or county road agencies, or state departments of transportation. The 2024 award was presented to Sheboygan County at the January 2025 Winter Highway Conference, as outlined in the accompanying article.

“At FP2, we lead the advancement of pavement preservation and recycling,” said FP2 president Dave Henderson. “Our objective is to support ‘Preserving Pavements via the Right Treatment, on the Right Pavement at the Right Time’. One way we accomplish our mission is by recognizing public agencies and municipalities which practice superior pavement preservation and recycling via our James B. Sorenson Award.”

“On behalf of Sheboygan County, we’re humbled and honored to accept this award for pavement preservation,” said Bryan Olson, transportation director, Sheboygan County Transportation Department Highway Division. “I’d like to take a moment and thank our county board for supporting our department’s submission statement of creating safe and reliable transportation today and tomorrow.”

Intended to recognize an agency’s preservation program, the Sorenson Award application is open to any level of government. Nominations may be made by the agency or in cooperation with industry. Nominations should include a write up of how the agency gained acceptance and support for its pavement preservation program. The deadline for entries for the current year is Aug. 1, 2025.

Learn more at https://fp2.org/fp2-awards-programs/sorenson-award/