Increasing density may be the answer to longer-lasting pavements

On Feb. 16, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) hosted a workshop funded by a joint initiative between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Asphalt Institute as industry groups look for ways to extend pavement life.

Adding a dash of density may be the answer.

Density has a dramatic impact to pavement life, resulting in a higher return on the public’s investment. Adding even 1 percent to the minimum required density of a pavement mix can extend the pavement service life by 10 percent.

More than 100 interested staffers from ITD, the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council, FHWA and the contracting community attended the workshop. 

 “The least-costly means of extending construction and maintenance dollars is to get higher-density pavements at the time of construction,” said Dave Johnson, senior regional engineer with the Asphalt Institute.

Johnson and Mark Blow, also of the Asphalt Institute, led the workshop presentation. Blow is pictured at right.

“There have been significant advancements in pavement design and construction techniques to enable better in-place compaction,” said FHWA Senior Asphalt Pavement Engineer, Tim Aschenbrener. “Many of these advancements are already in use, but standards for in-place density have, in many instances, remained unchanged. The partnerships with these workshops and demonstration projects reflects the enthusiastic willingness by state agencies and industry to make needed changes.”

ITD is working with its partners, the Associated General Contractors and FHWA to restructure the department’s verification testing, “including incentivizing contractors to continue to innovate and improve,” said ITD Construction and Materials Engineer, John Bilderback. “Density will be a heavily weighted metric.”

Published 02-24-17