As we celebrate Veteran’s Day, we want to recognize the many AMI employees and their family members that have bravely and selflessly served our country. We express our sincerest gratitude and appreciation for the courage, commitment, and sacrifices you and your families have made. Although we formally honor you on this special day, please know that we appreciate and thank you for your service every day of the year.
Asphalt is the pavement of choice for sustainability.
Asphalt is 100 percent reusable and recycled at a higher rate than any other material in America — including soda cans and newspapers. In fact, 94 percent of asphalt reclaimed from old roads and parking lots goes back into new pavements. (1)
Cold In-Place Recycling
In 2021, the Gogebic County Road Commission constructed their first recycling job. The first phase, which was approximately 3 miles of the Lake Road Cold In-Place Recycle (CIR) project, was finished in 2021. There are approximately 2.5 miles that are projected to finish in 2022. This final section of the roadway to be completed in 2022 is to repave the stretch of road from Little Girls Point to the Wisconsin border.
Pavement preservation is a cost-effective and greener approach to getting the most life out of your roads and making taxpayer dollars go further. In addition to cost efficiency, a pavement preservation approach is known to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), consume less energy, and provide faster application times than the alternative conventional approach.
A well-implemented pavement preservation approach achieves maximum efficiency by increasing the average condition of your pavement while decreasing your average spending per square yard. Pavement Preservation treatments are known for their ability to ensure quality with minimal effect on your budget and the environment.
Compare cost savings and environmental impact by treatment
An approach to pavement management that applies a robust toolbox of pavement preservation and recycling treatments will save time, money, while also reducing environmental impact over the long term. By using a PPRA calculator you are able to see average data comparing the cost and environmental savings of preservation and recycling techniques, compared to conventional reconstruction, mill and fill, or thin overlays.
Critical Concept !!
Every year, every mile of your network loses 1 mile-year of life. To avoid losing ground, the roadway owner must design a treatment plan that adds 500 mile-years of life or more! Over the first 75% of a road’s life, it will drop 40% in quality. Over the next 12% of its life, it will drop another 40% in quality. All roads pass a point of accelerated deterioration – past this point, costly rehab and reconstruction are the only options.
Worst – First Approach
Many agencies are learning that the use of limited funds toward a “Worst First” Approach accelerates the decline of their overall network, as miles of good roads go untreated each year. A conventional method of pavement management uses limited budgets to address the most deteriorated roads first. Miles of good roads go untreated each year, accelerating the decline of the overall network.
Many agencies are identifying pavement management strategies that use limited resources more efficiently, and designing treatment plans that reallocate budgets to make incremental network gains (instead of losses) each year. Use our Remaining Service Life tool to find out if your treatment plan is adding or subtracting life from your network.
Optimized Approach
By considering an Optimized Approach, which reallocates funds across more efficient strategies to keep good roads good and help you get ahead of the curve.
Understanding Remaining Service Life (RSL) is critical to designing a treatment plan that stretches your budget further and reverses the trend of a deteriorating network.
Pavement Preservation Methods’ ROI (Spend $1 Save $6)
There are two basic ideas to follow when choosing a Pavement Preservation Strategy:
1. Prioritize roads that are in fair-to-good condition. Why spend money on a road that is in decent condition? It is the most effective way to stretch dollars while also improving overall pavement condition. If you put your budget toward inexpensive, frequent treatments to semi-distressed roads, you will find the most savings as a whole.
2. Applying a pavement preservation method maximizes pavement quality & lifespan. Oxidation and moisture can take hold of a pavement within the first 2 years of its life, losing elasticity and becoming frail over time. These issues can result in surface raveling, cracking, potholes, and eventually pavement failure.
By performing a simple early pavement preservation system combined with a high-quality product the pavement can be preserved resulting in superior and longer-lasting roads. Maximizing your investment over time. Pavement preservation techniques not only provide the best way to maintain road integrity and durability, but they also reduce motorist delays and provide longer-lasting, safer roads.
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To learn more about Asphalt Materials Pavement Preservation Projects, visit our products page:
https://asphalt-materials.com/products/
Sources for this Article and Other Resources Available to Learn More
https://roadresource.org/preservation
PPRA’s RSL Calculator – Ready To Optimize Your Network?
https://roadresource.org/network/rsl_calc
https://roadresource.org/preservation/calculator
About PPRA:
The Pavement Preservation & Recycling Alliance (PPRA) provides a collective space to bring industry and agency together for the advancement of sustainable, eco-efficient, and innovative pavement applications.
Joining together resources from the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association, the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association, and the International Slurry Surfacing Association, PPRA unites a network of members dedicated to: “Better roads today. Stronger networks tomorrow.” Jointly, PPRA assists agencies by providing a centralized repository for comprehensive information related to pavement preservation and asphalt recycling and reclaiming. PPRA seeks to help agencies at the state, county, and local levels to make the right choices for their road networks and be the best possible stewards of their roads and of taxpayer dollars.
Asphalt pavements are one of our greatest renewable resources! The U.S. recycles about 2 million tons of plastic each year while recycling and reusing over 60 million tons of asphalt.
In addition, plastic recycling alters the chemical structure, so many plastics become different types of products once recycled. Roads, on the other hand, are reusable and renewable infinitely. (1)
Many states are looking for methods to improve longitudinal joint performance of their pavements, since these joints often fail before the rest of the surface. With the inherently lower density at the longitudinal joints we often see pavements fail by cracking, raveling, and potholing. Lower density is synonymous with higher air voids which leads to premature failure of pavements due to the intrusion of air and water. Studies have shown that longitudinal joints in pavements are often the weakest areas of a road. (1)
Several state DOTs (Department of Transportation) are now using a materials approach to seal the longitudinal joint region by filling these air voids with asphalt content from the bottom up.
The materials approach is referred to as VRAM(2), a Void Reducing Asphalt Membrane. VRAM is a highly polymer-modified asphalt cement that is placed at the location of a longitudinal joint before paving. As mix is paved over it, the VRAM melts and migrates up into voids in the low-density mix, making the mix impermeable to moisture while sealing the longitudinal joint itself.
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) test pavements were evaluated after 12 years and found to have longitudinal joints that exhibited significantly better performance than the control joint sections and were in similar or better condition than the rest of the pavement. Laboratory testing of cores showed decreased permeability and increased crack resistance of mix near joints with VRAM as compared with similar mix without VRAM. The life extension of the joint area is approximately 3–5 years, and the benefit is calculated to be three to five times the initial cost.
This project’s VRAM application began at 8:05pm with ProTack operating the 05-distributor shooting from the driver’s side. They started at address N3362 in the eastbound lane. Ambient temperature was 61F and existing pavement was 80F. ProTack applied a straight and consistent line throughout the project. VRAM width was measured with an average of 18 inches. (3)
The paving crew started at 11:40. Paving equipment consisted of a Volvo P7170B paver, Sakai SW850-II – 12-ton breakdown roller and a Volvo DD25B-5-ton finish roller. Width was 12 feet. Mix temp was 275F under the screed.
J-Band® is a VRAM product from Asphalt Materials, Inc. and was created in the labs of the Heritage Research Group.
J-Band has been helping roads last longer since 2002. VRAM has been used in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Notes:
Keywords: Infrastructure, Void Reducing Asphalt Material, Longitudinal Joints, J-Band, binder specifications, pavements, design and rehabilitation of asphalt pavements, asphalt, construction, asphalt pavement construction and rehabilitation, materials, binders, Asphalt Materials, The Heritage Group, Milestone, HC&M, Heritage Research Labs.
Bartholomew County, Indiana
Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is a cost effective and sustainable rehabilitation technique that combines the entire bituminous pavement thickness and a predetermined portion of the underlying aggregate material into a flexible, homogenous stabilized base layer utilizing an asphalt emulsion to provide mixture cohesion and water resistance. FDR is a solution for rehabilitating roads that have poor structure. The FDR is typically followed with an overlay of hot mix asphalt.
This full depth reclamation project took many parties from start to finish. Milestone Contractors, Inc. submitted the bid, Asphalt Materials, Inc. supplied the engineered emulsion and Heritage Research Group provided the sampling, mix design and quality control.
This particular project was on Hartman Drive in Bartholomew County, Indiana. It consisted of an eight-inch (8″) full depth reclamation on one thousand, one hundred feet (1,100′) of existing recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) road and one hundred – 70 feet (70′) of existing asphalt road. A 3″ hot mix overlay laid in 2 lifts of 1 ½” each was then placed on the new recycled roadway base.
The County collected and placed the RAP at a depth of 8-9” from another project in the area to build the new roadway base. Milestone then pre-pulverized and graded the entire roadway at a depth of 8”. A second pass was made with the reclaimer and the engineered emulsion was injected and the emulsified material was graded and compacted. After the final cure the recycled base was overlaid with two 1 ½” lifts of HMA (Hot Mix Asphalt), striped and opened to traffic.
Asphalt Materials Inc., is a proud member of The Heritage Group and brings nearly 65 years of experience to the asphalt industry and road construction projects. Our teams of professionals are dedicated to creating longer-lasting, safer roads with quality, reliable asphalt materials.
Our family of companies want to ensure we are leaving the world in a better place for future generations. As The Heritage Group continues to expand capabilities and investments in the sustainability space, the AMI team is also focused on sustainability in a number of different areas. We will be reporting on these in future articles.
#FDR #Infrastructure #STEM STEMEducation #Sustainability #LongerLastingRoads #HotMixAsphalt
[Note: Bids for this project opened on March 29, 2021]
During the 2016 construction season a new method of longitudinal joint construction was specified in Illinois. This new method is a materials approach and is referred to as VRAM(2), a Void Reducing Asphalt Membrane. Applying VRAM at the time of construction helps fill the pavement voids, thus reducing the permeability in this most critical area.
As part of their evaluation, DuPage County ensured that test cores were taken on different joint constructions, such as VRAM and joint heater. DCT, I-FIT, density, and asphalt binder grading tests were performed to compare the different joint construction methods. The report summarized that the addition of the VRAM contributes to a more durable joint by partially filling the joint and adjacent mat air voids. The joint will be much less permeable and less likely to allow water infiltration.
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