PALO ALTO COUNTY HOSTS FLEXIBLE INTERLAYER OPEN HOUSE
On June 13, 2016, Palo Alto County in conjunction with Heartland Asphalt hosted an Open House featuring a 1” flexible interlayer over existing PCC followed by 3” HMA. With rain hovering both to the North and South of the project, the Open House was successfully held and attended by County, City, Contractor and Supplier
representatives.
After HMA patching of this 4-mile stretch of County Route B-14, two miles of the 4 miles were then widened from 20’ to 22.5’. According to George Jessen, President of Heartland Asphalt, the flexible interlayer was a 3/8” mix with 63% 3/8” chips and 37% washed sand. The Asphaltic Cement (AC) was a 64-34E (extra polymers) at between 7.9-8.2%. Voids had been averaging about 1% which was at Spec. According to Jessen, the only problem with the job was a little less production due to pumping 8% AC into the mix. He said that this was pretty much as expected.
County Engineer Walter Davis-Oeth was impressed so far with the project and noted that it “looked good, rode good an
d laid well with no problems.” He said, “That you could definitely notice the low voids and high asphalt con
tent but was pleasantly surprised on how tough of a mix it was and how well it held up to traffic.” He did say that the real proof will be “what will it look like in three years or so as far as for reflective cracking”. This project will now be completed by adding 3” HMA, ½” mix, 58-28 AC with between 15-18% RAP.
Palo Alto is the third county in western Iowa, joining O’Brien County and Mills County, utilizing this process. We are sure with the success to date many more will be joining them in the future.
A special thanks to George Jessen, his staff and Walter Davis-Oeth for hosting this Open House.
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