Behind the Screed

Evotherm YouTube Channel Grows

How familiar are you with Evotherm's YouTube channel, EvothermWMA? If not very, then there's no better time than now! We've put together a series of videos in an effort to bring life to the various benefits customers experience when using Evotherm.

Check out the most recent video, "Evotherm and RAP," featuring Tim Carter of P&S Paving in Daytona Beach, FL. And stay tuned for additional videos we're adding each month!

 

 

Stay tuned for:

"Better Compaction & Density" — Jay Behnke, S.T.A.T.E. Testing, Chicago, IL

"Follow the Truck & Keep Temps Low"

"Cold Weather & Long Haul Paving"

"Municipal Paving"

 

Check out the EvothermWMA channel here.

Trailblazing Clean Air in Casselberry

If the word “trailblazer” is defined as “pioneer or innovator,” then the City of Casselberry, Florida, certainly fits the bill. For several years, Casselberry has had a goal of being a truly “green” city. In this vein, the city developed a city-wide road improvement program that would allow roads to be paved at the lowest possible temperatures in order to minimize their carbon footprint.

 

In early 2013, the City of Casselberry developed its own Specification for Warm Mix Asphalt Pavement (CASB 334), based on the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) specification, but tailored to better suit projects of the size and nature of the local government. This made the city the first in the state to require the use of WMA instead of HMA for its large public road rehabilitation projects. Kelly Brock, Assistant Public Works Director and City Engineer for the City of Casselberry, explains: “We now have the benefit of saving energy, reducing emissions and improving working conditions, compaction and pavement longevity.”

The city’s first project using this WMA specification in 2013 was Road Rehabilitation Area 1-3,a milling and resurfacing of approximately eight miles. Kelly Brock continues: “Since then, another seven miles of road rehabilitation and reconstruction have been completed with WMA, for a total of 15 miles through April of 2016. It’s a total of more than 20,000 tons of WMA.”

Today, the city has been awarded Honorable Mention for the 2016 Clean Air Award from the Central Florida Clean Air Team. City of Casselberry, blaze on!

In It For the Long Haul

In November of 2015, Saint John County, near Jacksonville, FL, found itself in this dilemma: a 2,000 daily mix ton project, 50 miles from the asphalt plant, with no access to a shuttle buggy. The County wanted a reliable solution to pave an eastbound stretch of East Saint Johns Avenue and found the answer with WMA.

Experienced with warm mix, contractor Atlantic Coast Asphalt (ACA) used a PG 58-22 terminally blended mix with 0.5% Evotherm M1 and 40% rap blend. “Although we had used warm mix in the past,” explains Mike Camilleri, Plant Manager at ACA, “we were concerned with using it in our Marshall design mix and achieving improved and more consistent density compared to HMA. But we discovered many performance benefits by using warm mix on this job.”

The first trucks were loaded at approximately seven o’clock in the morning. Production temperatures began at 330℉ and were reduced in stages down to 270℉. The 50-minute haul and lack of a shuttle buggy yielded varying temperature readings behind the screed (between 235-285℉). Gauge readings on site indicated density values that ranged from 93-94%, which were confirmed with sample cores later in the day.

Press Tompkins, County Engineer at Saint Johns County, reports that the project was an overall success: “A 60℉ production temperature drop in mid-November, along with a 50-minute haul without a shuttle buggy wouldn’t have been possible without Evotherm. And when you factor in the consistent densities, that’s even more of a plus.”

It looks like the initiative and innovation by Saint John County and ACA paid off in the long haul!

Warm Mix Gets Historic in Williston

Asphalt producer, Axeon, and Contractor, V.E. Whitehurst, are excited about most projects, but their recent completion of a project at Williston Municipal Airport in Williston (near Gainesville), Florida, was particularly significant. The Airport once served as a back-up facility to Eglin Field for Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s training efforts for the Tokyo Raid that occurred on April 18, 1942, in retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The airport will park visiting corporate and military aircraft on the newly-paved, triangular-shaped apron.

V.E. Whitehurst chose Axeon’s StellarFlex FR (Fuel Resistant) product, which utilizes Evotherm warm mix technology, to aid the compaction and workability of the tarmac mix. Axeon produced the PG 82-22 FR binder at their Savannah, Georgia, facility. Whitehurst first used P-601 asphalt on a test strip to check for compliance with the new FAA specification. The mix performed well with no mat core failures. Crews placed twenty-four inches of crushed lime rock as the base, followed by a two-inch layer of P401 for the intermediate mix, and two inches of P-601 as the final wearing surface. A pneumatic tire roller finished the surface to ensure the most uniform joint seals.

Together, Axeon and Whitehurst have written an exciting new piece of warm mix history at the Williston airport.