All year long, we bring you paving project stories and paving tips to assist in training your workforce on paving best practices. Twice a year, we devote the edition’s theme to asphalt paving. You could say we place high importance on the best way to “implement” the mix you design and produce. This month, I want to suggest there’s more than one way to increase your tonnage for the department of transportation (DOT) in your state, whether the DOT’s funding increased recently or not.
Track with me here.
When you place a top quality, high-performing, long-lasting road—be it for the DOT, county, city, residential property manager—the owner pays a specific price for the completed work and does not have to pay exorbitant maintenance costs in the future. An asphalt pavement designed with perpetual pavement performance in mind is likely to last in excess of 50 or 65 years with minimal preservation treatments at year 15 or so. That’s a one-time investment up front with some minimal dollars for preservation later on. That’s smart.
If you’re a paving contractor or mix producer, you might be thinking, wait. Where’s the big benefit for me? Here it comes.
The agency that saves big maintenance dollars in years three, four, five, six and so on, has big dollars at its disposal. Those dollars can be used for maintenance or upgrading of sub-par pavements (I’m looking at the concrete industry, of course) or for building much-needed infrastructure in new or developing areas. That’s where the asphalt community can step in and provide, again, a long-lasting pavement system that saves dollars down the road, again.
It’s like a wise-money-use cycle when asphalt professionals pave with perpetual pavement designs and best paving practices. Indulge me for a moment while I tell you AsphaltPro magazine has an online course that teaches the back-to-basics for best paving. It’s designed to reach the new members of your crew and to give a refresher to the veterans on your crew. Check that out under our Training tab on theasphaltpro.com.
Best paving practices run the gamut from in-place recycling and paving along rural highways to pavement maintenance and striping of commercial lots. We’ve taken a look at a number of paving projects in this month’s issue and welcome you to use any or all of them to talk to your crews about the tips and tricks you see as training and growth opportunities.
Stay Safe,
Sandy Lender