Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/620628
November 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 44 CONCRETE OVERLAYS: highway contractor | by Chris Hill | ChrisHill@randallreilly.com T oday's roadbuilding environment requires more results from fewer resources, so extending pavement life is critical. One way to do this is with con- crete overlays. Conventional thinking has con- crete overlays most suited for high volume, heavy truckload pave- ments, such as intersections and in- terchanges. In fact, it's been joked that intersection projects are the "gateway drug" for departments of transportation to adopt concrete overlays, primarily because the projects are relatively small and the results come quickly. Concrete overlays have been used for more than 100 years, with more than 1,100 projects complet- ed between 1901 and 2012, accord- ing to American Concrete Pave- ment Association fi gures. Projects have been completed in 45 states, and overlays make up 14 percent of the concrete paving market. In some regions of the country that fi gure represents more than half of the concrete pavements being placed. The growing concrete overlay adoption rate can be attributed to two factors, according to Leif Wathne, ACPA vice president. One is a push by the association and its state chapters to educate transportation agencies about the effi cacy of concrete overlays as a resurfacing option, a push that began roughly a decade ago. The other factor is price parity relative to other resurfacing options. "We developed design method- ologies and guide specifi cations, Price parity and growing DOT/municipality use lead the industry Concrete being delivered onto the bonded section of a U.S. 58 overlay project in Virginia. Virginia DOT