On The Road
Preserving Pavements and Sealing Pavements Go Hand in Hand
One of the most common terms used to describe pavement treatments for preservation or rehabilitation is seal (e.g., cape seal, chip seal, crack seal, scrub seal, slurry seal). Pavement treatments, for good reason, aim to associate themselves with the ability to keep water out of pavements because excessive amounts of water entering into and remaining in a pavement is detrimental to longevity. There are a few ways to measure permeability or infiltration into pavements as shown in Figure 1. This note focuses on the Mississippi Permeameter (MSP) as it has been shown to be a fairly universal metho...
A Century of Asphalt Emulsions
Emulsified asphalt, also referred to as liquid asphalt because of its liquid state at ambient temperatures, includes both cutback asphalt and asphalt emulsion. A cutback asphalt is made by adding a diluent, typically a petroleum distillate, to refined asphalt. Cutback asphalt has reportedly been used in road construction since the 1800s. And there was a major expansion of cutback asphalt from the 1930s through the 1970s. Although still utilized for various applications, new developments over time and ultimately a push to mitigate uncontrolled hydrocarbon emissions in the U.S. specifically led ...
Fundamental to Preserve our Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure Investment
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) coined the phrase “good roads cost less.” In essence, this is to emphasize the long-term financial savings that agencies gain when roads are kept in good condition through timely preservation and maintenance. As such, slowly but surely, we have come to realize there is a fundamental need, and subsequent benefit, to preserve our Nation’s transportation assets. Still, some may or do take transportation infrastructure for granted. According to a previous report from the House Committee on Transportation, only 2% of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product ...
The Pillars of Sustainability and Our Roads
Over the past 20 years, the term sustainability has flirted with a buzzword status. There is agreement among many that the roots of development are in the United Nations (UN). In 1980, the UN produced the World Conservation Strategy1 which focused almost exclusively on environmental perspectives. However, in 1987, the UN produced the Brundtland Commission Report2 which started pivoting away from only an environmental focus to a more holistic focus. In the report, the Commission defined sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to ...
Stacking Up the Benefits of Pavement Preservation
When it comes to pavement preservation, there are many treatment options available that can address specific issues and ultimately extend pavement life. Crack seals, chip seals, slurry seals, micro surfacing, and thin overlays are widely used and have proven to be cost-effective solutions when selected properly. More and more, agencies are combining these treatments and obtaining increased benefits.
The National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation Road Research Facility (MnROAD) have been studying the field performance of various pavement preser...