Sustainable Infrastructure Project in Gogebic County Michigan

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.

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Pavement Preservation Leads to a More Sustainable Infrastructure

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.

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What is America’s Most Recycled Product?

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)

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What is a Sustainable Rehabilitation Technique for Asphalt Materials?

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]

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Asphalt Materials Shines the Spotlight on Sustainability

As The Heritage Group continues to expand capabilities and investments in the sustainability space, the Asphalt Material’s team is also focused on sustainability in a number of different areas, this article is focused on CCPR or Cold Central Plant Recycling.

CCPR is the process in which the asphalt recycling takes place at a central location using a stationary cold mix plant and an existing stockpile of RAP or reclaimed asphalt pavement.

Why is CCPR a Sustainability Initiative?

Aggregate and oil resources are not infinite and current conventional remove-and-replace approaches to construction projects is unsustainable and not always budget-friendly. CCPR is a modern, yet time-tested approach. It has helped agencies complete more projects within the same budget, or in many cases with reduced dollars versus budget without sacrificing the structural integrity of asphalt pavements.

By reducing energy usage during the processing, CCPR is an ideal choice for road construction projects. There is a smaller carbon footprint and reduction in greenhouse gases because of the significant reduction in trucks exporting and importing materials to and from the site.

RAP is a Valuable Asset!

Agencies paid for the initial construction materials for an existing asphalt pavement. With CCPR, agencies are able to reuse those materials and stretch their budget dollars. When roads last longer, infrastructure funds go further.

CCPR Can be Less Expensive

CCPR is less expensive than conventional maintenance, reconstruction, or new construction methods. Rehabilitating a road with an engineered emulsion additive is less expensive than producing a virgin hot mix made from completely new materials. Typical overall project cost savings can be 25% or more.

Nate Jenkins (AMI Sales Representative) and Tim Zahrn (Specialty Products Area Manager) collaborate on a number of recycling projects around the state of Indiana. They also draw on the expertise of The Heritage Research Group, specifically team members like Megan Yount, and Zach Robinson. A few of their insights are seen below.

CCPR is a green approach that is not only environmentally friendly, but is often economically advantageous to agencies. – Tim Zahrn, Specialty Products Area Manager for Asphalt Materials, Inc.

CCPR gives an agency the ability to remove existing asphalt pavement and fix the underlying pavement issues, reusing the RAP in the new pavement structure. – Megan Yount, Heritage Research Group.

CCPR is placed at ambient temperatures and the mixing plant is typically located in close proximity to the project.  This decreases excessive hauling and utilizes a lower amount of virgin material in comparison to some other alternatives. – Jason Wielinski, Asphalt Institute.

If an agency needs to remove the existing pavement structure, RAP, it makes sense to reuse the material that the agency already owns. – Nate Jenkins, Asphalt Materials Inc. Sales Representative.

RAP has value and can be used by an agency for a number of different things, but can be very valuable when used in a CCPR or other pavement recycling processes. – Zach Robinson, Heritage Research Group.

Show below are a number of different pictures taken at different stages of a CCPR project. In addition, you may be interested in watching a short video of CCPR here: Video Link.

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Rebuild of County Road 151 recognized with two awards

The rebuild of County Road 151 across three townships has been honored with two awards. 

The Monroe County Road Commission received the national Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association’s 2016 Award for Excellence in full-depth reclamation for the project. In addition, the road commission and Gerken Paving Inc. received an award of excellence from the Asphalt Pavement Association of Michigan. 

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