Asphalt Paving
On Aug. 18, 2017, the editorial staff of Roads & Bridges magazine visited the $2.3 billion I-4 Ultimate project in Orlando, Fla. The 21-mile project site is presently at the midpoint of its construction, and the scale was enormous. We brought our 360 camera along for the trip. Here's another...
Unforeseen subgrade conditions, work-hour and construction-zone restrictions, heavy truck traffic and working in part of a floodplain—all these issues were encountered during the reconstruction of 30 miles of U.S. Rte. 85 (Ault to Wyoming) in northern Colorado.
Each of the issues had the...
They attended to the church regularly.
Old State Highway (SH) 74 in Oklahoma City had been servicing cars for about a century, and the two-lane road, which was without shoulders, had been out of its element for years. With an average daily traffic of 30,000 (about 30% coming from trucks) people...
Construction projects in dense urban or suburban areas are among the most crucial to our national infrastructure, yet they also tend to be the least applauded.
There are no gorgeous vistas to consider in photographs, no access offered on completion to theretofore unreachable beauties. Mostly,...
Where could transportation officials turn to in the event of a serious incident on an interstate highway that required them to divert traffic elsewhere?
When it comes to I-26, the answer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) was S.R. 36, a corridor that parallels the interstate...
After federal regulations resulting from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) lifted a long-standing ban on using pavement warranties, many states across the U.S. experimented with various types of warranties.
Prior to ISTEA, the Federal Highway Administration (...
Christopher Columbus was a man with a vision. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were men with a vision. Brian Devick, mayor of Woodward, Iowa, too is a man of vision.
The citizens of this small, central Iowa town will benefit from his vision for decades to come. In the summer of 2015, the vision...
The ability to safely slow and stop a vehicle is not only dependent upon its tires, but also the surface characteristics of the pavement.
Pavement surfaces can be constructed with a more open surface texture to provide greater macrotexture for better high-speed performance during wet-pavement...
Image source: thawornnurak 123RF
When designing typical highway pavements, engineers at the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) strive to construct pavement structures that carry projected traffic loading for 20 to 25 years with little to no major maintenance.
However, Ohio currently has several asphalt concrete (AC)...
The drought in Mississippi this year is not only affecting recreational activities such as bonfires and camping, but is also affecting the state’s highways, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT).
“Our roads have suffered the effects of extreme loss of rainfall...
They did not travel long distances to see the weeping track. In fact, I doubt many racing fans in the New York region saw the strange phenomenon.
Asphalt pavement weeping happens when moisture collects in the sub-base and is pushed to the surface through a crack. Water on a racetrack is bad...
Indiana’s East-West Toll Road is set to receive a $200 million makeover and work begins today. According to the Indiana Department of Transportation, it is to be the largest project undertaken by the toll road since its original construction in 1954.
The project’s scale includes the...
From the semi-arid northern plains to the humid subtropical piney woods, Texas’ sprawling network of roads—nearly 700,000 lane-miles of them—span multiple climates.
The temperature and landscape variances over such a vast area can wreak havoc on roadway maintenance. Many shortcomings arise when...
News
February 03, 2016
A section of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road, which stretches across the northern portion of the state between Ohio and Illinois, will undergo $200 million in improvements including new asphalt and bridge work.
Work is slated to begin in March on a 70-mile stretch describing a path from mile...
News
December 30, 2015
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has selected a preferred developer for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, which remains on track for construction to begin in summer 2016 as the largest-ever highway project in the state.
This is the first highway public-private partnership in...
In all, 232,000 tons of asphalt base and surface mixes were paved and compacted along the 6.2-mile stretch of Kentucky’s Highway 60.
The stretch of U.S. Highway 60 connecting Lexington to Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort, carries many high-profile commuters.
State lawmakers take the route for their work; celebrities can be spotted on their way to take in horse racing; and “many Kentucky Transportation Cabinet employees travel...
I-376 Section L04 is a major north/south artery in the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Twelve million: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that’s how many tires are ground up and recycled into crumb rubber for use in asphalt pavements each year.
Yet, despite this impressive figure, the practicality of paving with crumb rubber remains an untried novelty in many...
Norris Asphalt widened the roadway out 3 ft to each side to build new paved shoulders.
Norris Asphalt Paving Co. faced an uphill climb to qualify as a finalist for the 2015 Sheldon G. Hayes Award, but in the end the company was able to make its way to the top.
The Ottuma, Iowa-based company was nominated for the asphalt paving industry’s highest honor thanks to its exemplary work...
Total lift thickness for the roundabout was 6.5 in. The 19-mm mix was used for the first lift (2.5 in. thick) and second (2.25 in. thick), but Northeast Asphalt had to use a Wisconsin DOT higher ESAL mix for the 1.75-in. surface course.
Last year’s modern day Ice Age buried routes across the U.S. with its frozen malice.
Many public works officials had to pick through the remains of pavement during the spring and summer months of 2014.
Up in Wisconsin, the glacier-like effect left an 8.1-mile portion of State Trunk Highway (...
Article
October 06, 2011
The designer of a road construction project on the Intercounty Connector (ICC) in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, Md., was able to adapt the original plan to better suit the environment and save money by using engineering innovation to solve problems with existing natural conditions....
