Asphalt is smooth, quiet, safe, and durable. Asphalt is unique in that the design of the pavement can be tailored to fit the project requirements and can be placed in an incredibly short amount of time and then opened up to traffic.

Because of asphalt’s speed of construction, hazards to road workers and motorists in the work zone are reduced. Also, businesses along the construction route experience minimal disruption.

Because asphalt can be installed so rapidly, it is becoming the pavement choice for state, county, and city agencies all over the United States. Agencies dealing with the ever-increasing demands on our roadways and tight construction and maintenance budgets find that this benefit allows them to provide the motoring public a high quality product at the lowest cost possible with minimum disruption.

This speed of construction advantage was demonstrated in dramatic fashion on a recent resurfacing project during the weeks of June 4 and June 11, 2001 in the city of Des Moines, Iowa.

Army Post Road, from East 14th Street to Fleur Drive was scheduled for reconstruction. In order to minimize any downtime or disruption to businesses along the construction route, planning called for more manpower and equipment massed than ever before on a local paving construction project.

The 48 – 60 foot wide street was cold milled and overlaid in two sections – the first 4,300 feet (3,100 tons) and the second 6,000 feet (4,600) tons in length. The milling and cleanup, base, and curb repairs were accomplished the first four days of each week with the actual paving on the fifth day. It is anticipated that the paving rate in tons per hour was the fastest ever for a municipal project in Iowa.

The project was a joint effort between the City of Des Moines’ Public Works Department and Des Moines Asphalt and Paving Company. The City was responsible for base and curb repairs, intake and manhole adjustments, and milling cleanup and traffic control. The contractor performed cold milling and recovery and place the HMA.

The project demonstrated several unique advantages of HMA, including seamless, smooth construction at a speed that allowed the same day opening to traffic and abutting businesses. A high performance grade asphalt cement was used in the mix design along the straight traffic areas, while a modified grade was used in the intersections to minimize potential rutting from channeled high speed traffic and stopping.

The project goal was to demonstrate a state-of-the-art method of rehabilitation and reconstruction that is economical and low maintenance, producing quality pavement in the shortest amount of time possible.

If you would like more information on asphalt’s speed of construction or other functional advantages asphalt has to offer over alternative pavements you can email us at apai@apai.net

Asphalt, the smooth ride.