Preserved Pavements are Resilient Pavements

Excerpts from the JULY – AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER Magazine from ARTBA, The American Road & Transportation Builders Association

BY SCOTT BERGKAMP

We often have heard that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. As we evaluate our road networks for resiliency, this maxim certainly applies. In an emergency, a few scattered issues on major thoroughfares in a community will hinder first responders and population evacuation.

Focus on the Entire Network.

That’s why state and local road agencies—when improving the resiliency of their infrastructure—should enhance the pavement condition of the entire network via preservation. The uncertainty of trying to predict where failures will occur and then addressing only those locations—is eliminated when an entire road network is in good condition.

Pavement preservation is intended to keep good roads good—prolonging pavement life and resiliency—without adding structural value. Preservation techniques include surface treatments such as slurry surfacing, crack sealing, chip sealing, micro-surfacing, rejuvenation, hot and cold in-place recycling and thin-lift hot-mix asphalt paving, and concrete pavement restoration. In addition to providing cost savings for governments, pavement preservation utilizes up to 80 percent less of the earth’s non-renewable resources compared to conventional highway rehabilitation and reconstruction programs.

Less Maintenance. Fewer Emissions. Fewer Safety Issues.

Preservation treatments are completed quickly with minimal disruption to traffic. Freely moving traffic produces far fewer emissions than slowed or stopped traffic, so the environment benefits from decreased emissions means fewer road work-related traffic jams, less mobile construction equipment, and fewer, endless processions of haul trucks. Preservation fully utilizes reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), keeping it out of landfills. And preservation decreases airborne particulate matter (PM) compared to that emitted during conventional reconstruction.

In addressing network pavement condition, many agencies have demonstrated the ability to improve the condition of the entire network with pavement preservation practices, better utilizing their existing budget while enhancing resiliency.

A Cost-Effective Manner

Agencies found that improving a network’s overall resiliency in a cost-effective manner through pavement preservation is very achievable, and at the same time improves network condition. With this approach, the agency’s constituents will be pleased both during normal times, and also when they experience a disruptive event.

Saves Taxpayer’s Money.

Pavement preservation enhances system resiliency and is environmentally sustainable while it saves taxpayers money. On all accounts, it’s a win-win for road agencies and the road users they serve.

Scan the QR Code to visit the ARTBA Site.

To read the full article in the AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER follow the link below.

https://www.artba.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TB-July-August-2022-web.pdf

Scott Bergkamp is president of Bergkamp Inc., located in Salina, Kansas. He is the immediate past president of FP2, Inc., the Foundation for Pavement Preservation. Scott’s email is scott@bergkampinc.com

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IIJA Helping with Designing & Building Resilient Transportation Infrastructure

Dave Bauer

Excerpt from the JULY – AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER Magazine from ARTBA, The American Road & Transportation Builders Association

THE ARENA

On the Road Again

DAVE BAUER | President & CEO, ARTBA

More than 90 percent of American households have a car and three-quarters of Americans use them for daily commutes. Thanks to the IIJA, the country’s dominant mode of travel will become even more efficient, as projects get underway and are completed. While better transportation systems are the end goal, the creation of well-paying jobs and associated economic growth along the way will be an added benefit.

[T]he investments from the IIJA will not be limited to highways and will also bring much-needed improvements to airports and public transportation. The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has already announced $1 billion in Airport Terminal Grants so that those dealing with delayed and canceled flights will at least have modernized facilities in which to wait. The new law also more than doubles annual Airport Improvement Program investment which will lead to a dramatic boost in runway and other airside infrastructure projects.

Scan the QR Code to
visit the ARTBA Site.

To read the full article in the AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER
follow the link below.

https://www.artba.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TB-July-August-2022-web.pdf

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), aka Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021. The law authorizes $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending with $550 billion of that figure going toward “new” investments and programs. Funding from the IIJA is expansive in its reach, addressing energy and power infrastructure, access to broadband internet, water infrastructure, and more. Some of the new programs funded by the bill could provide the resources needed to address a variety of infrastructure needs at the local level.

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Improving the Sustainability of Asphalt Pavements

Excerpt from Fall 2002 Asphalt Pavement Magazine

An increasing number of agencies, companies, organizations, institutes, and governing bodies are embracing principles of sustainability in managing their activities and conducting business. Historically, sustainability referred to environmental sustainability and simply meant using natural resources in a way that people in the future could continue to rely on their yields in the long term.

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Building Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Requires Investment, Innovation & Collaboration

Excerpt from the JULY – AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER Magazine from ARTBA, The American Road & Transportation Builders Association

CHAIRMAN’S CORNER – by WARD NYE | Chairman & CEO, Martin Marietta

Building Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Requires Investment, Innovation & Collaboration

“At the federal level, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has established both a formula and a discretionary program aimed at rewarding states that enhance the resiliency of transportation infrastructure and make plans for future investment.

At the federal level, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has established both a formula and discretionary program aimed at rewarding states that enhance the resiliency of transportation infrastructure and make plans for future investment.

As chronicled in the pages of this issue, stories of our industry’s endeavors to incorporate resiliency into transportation improvements abound. For example, building information modeling (BIM) helped replace the aging East 138th Street Bridge (known by many as the Madison Avenue Bridge) in New York City, making the city’s transportation grid more resilient. Learning from past weather events, highway engineers in Florida have constructed a 2.4-mile stretch of highway on the state’s east coast designed to be more resilient in the wake of future storms.

Scan the QR Code to
visit the ARTBA Site.

To read the full article in the AUGUST 2022 Edition of TRANSPORTATION BUILDER
follow the link below.

https://www.artba.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TB-July-August-2022-web.pdf

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Sustainability and Profit

Excerpt of October 2022 Article Featured in Asphalt Pavement Magazine

BY BENJAMIN F. BOWERS, PE

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Volume 27 | Number 5

“The three tenants of sustainability are people (social), planet (environmental concerns), and the oft-forgotten profit. As a graduate student, I lounged one evening on my porch after a day of pounding out proctor samples in the lab, sipping on a craft beer (my millennial is showing), and reading the book ‘Cradle to Cradle’ by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart.

That book changed my career trajectory. One of my biggest takeaways was that I could do everything in the world for people and the environment; but if I didn’t make a profit, I would go out of business. That’s not sustainable.

RAP is a great example of cradle-to-cradle. Old binder is binder; old aggregate is aggregate. Asphalt pavement is used as asphalt pavement. How do we, the asphalt pavement industry, leverage sustainability (do good for our neighbors and our world) to also make a profit?”

Read more from the September / October issue of Asphalt Pavement Magazine by scanning the QR Code.

Footnote: Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is the term given to removed and/or reprocessed pavement materials containing asphalt and aggregates. These materials are generated when asphalt pavements are removed for reconstruction, resurfacing, or to obtain access to buried utilities. When properly crushed and screened, RAP consists of high-quality, well-graded aggregates coated by asphalt cement.

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Why The Reuse Of Existing Resources is Critical in a Pavement Manager’s Arsenal

We’ve all been told the importance of recycling. “Reduce, reuse, recycle” is a phrase we’ve heard all our lives. The importance of waste reduction lies in every direction. Ultimately, nobody wants to live in a high pollution environment or suffer the effects of climate change. There are economic, environmental, and equitable advantages to being a change agent for recycling initiatives.  

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Cold Constructed Asphalt Pavement Project in Ohio Helping Roads Last Longer

Small’s Sand & Gravel: 10229 Killduff Road CCAP® Patch Project

Pavement preservation is a cost-e­ffective and environmentally friendly way to extend the life of roadways which helps public funding go further. A pavement preservation strategy is proven to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, expend less energy, and give faster application times than the alternative conventional approach, in addition to being cost-effective.

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Shelby County Ohio Taking Steps to Aid Pavement Preservation

Improving the resilience of infrastructure helps advance a more sustainable transportation network.  

Pavement preservation is a more cost-e­ffective and environmentally friendly way to extend the life of your roadways and make public funding go further. A pavement preservation strategy is proven to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, expend less energy, and give faster application times than the alternative conventional approach, in addition to being cost-effective.

Read More