Johnston Industries Announces First Large-ScaleApplication of Reinforced Composites for Highway...

COLUMBUS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1998--

Caltrans to Use Snap Tite(R) System Technology on

California's Yolo Causeway

Johnston Industries (JII: NYSE), a diversified textile manufacturer, today announced the first commercial

application for its Vectorply(R) composite reinforcement fabric as part of a new high-tech jacketing system for concrete bridge columns. The jacketing technology, called Snap Tite(R), will be applied to 3,480 concrete bridge columns of the Yolo Causeway in Northern California this spring under the California Transportation Department's seismic retrofit program. The composite reinforcement system consists of single-seamed, lightweight, cylindrical jackets that are "snapped" onto a column. The jackets are applied in layers with a high-strength adhesive until the desired thickness and strength is achieved. The installation work on the Yolo Causeway will be done by C.C. Myers, Inc., a major West Coast bridge builder.

Johnston Industries Composite Reinforcements (JICR), a subsidiary of Johnston Industries, working closely with inventor Norm Fawley and Myers Technologies, developed the Snap Tite(R) technology as a cost effective alternative to conventional steel jacketing of bridge and causeway columns. Fiber glass producer PPG Industries and the University of Southern California also collaborated in the four-year long product development process.

"The engineered fabric architecture provided by Johnston Industries Composite Reinforcements was essential in the successful development of the Snap Tite(R) technology," stated Norm Fawley, who invented the fiber glass reinforced material. Many of the competitive composite retrofit systems are made with carbon fibers and epoxy resins. The Snap Tite(R) installation meets mechanical property requirements with lower cost glass fibers and isopolyester resins.

Working with Fawley, JICR conducted 17 different product trials beginning in 1994. The heavyweight E-glass fabric which finally proved to be the most effective was evaluated and tested with the help of scientists at the University of Southern California, who found that Snap Tite(R) material was as effective as steel in protecting bridges from earthquake damage.

"Johnston Composite Reinforcements is proud to be the non-crimp reinforcement fabric supplier for California's first major composite bridge column retrofit project. With as many as one-third of the bridges in the U.S. estimated to be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient, we see a vast new market opening up for our high performance Vectorply(R) composite reinforcements," said JICR president Donald L. Massey.

Barry Olson, general manager at Myers Technologies, commented, "JICR is continuing their role in the development of Snap Tite(R) and Snap Tite(R) variants through a close working relationship with Myers Technologies. We expect to develop these innovative reinforcement products for a range of structural and civil engineering applications." Myers Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of C.C. Myers, Inc. of Rancho Cordova, CA, produces and installs Snap Tite(R) jackets under license from Fawley-owned NCF Industries, Long Beach, CA.

Johnston Industries, Inc. is a diversified manufacturer of textile fabrics with annual sales of approximately $335 million. As one of its operating subsidiaries, Johnston Industries Composite Reinforcements Inc. makes Vectorply(R) and other sophisticated non-crimp multiaxial reinforcing fabrics from fiberglass, carbon and aramid fibers used to reinforce composites for a wide variety of applications. -0- - Snap Tite(R) is a registered trademark of NCF Industries, Inc. with U.S. and foreign patents pending.

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature regarding future events. These statements are only predictions and actual events may differ materially. Please refer to documents that Johnston files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: D. Clark Ogle

Johnston Industries, Inc.

(706) 641-3140

or

Donald L. Massey

Johnston Composites

(334) 291-7704

or

Martin Skala, V.P.

Joe Cullen, Media Consultant

Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.

(212) 564-4700