May 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com
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road science
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continued
Atlas
Copco
An Atlas Copco roller finishing
the edge on a countryside road.
sional engineer in Arizona, Califor-
nia, Wyoming and Nevada.
He says that as contractors are
working on compaction, they
should also be mixing the asphalt
mixes, hauling them and paving
at a steady rate. This is critical to
keeping the roller patterns consis-
tent. It also ensures that compaction
operators aren't trying to play catch
up or a "back and forth" game of
correction when people aren't pay-
ing attention.
"In this industry, we don't step
back enough and say: what could
we have done to do a better job?,"
Robinson adds. "Most of the time,
we don't realize what we're capable
of, in terms of quality, but we're
happy with it because we've met
some fairly arbitrary minimum stan-
dard. We don't think about what
we could have done better, and
sometimes, a little bit more effort in
that department would result in a
lot better product."
Chuck Deahl, president of Illinois-
based Fat Boy Roller, agrees that
having the fundamentals in place
before the rollers even touch the
asphalt mat is key.
"Smooth pavements start with a
good base that gives us confine-
ment," he says. "If this is a milled
surface, we have to make sure we
have cut enough depth to eliminate
roughness, and use a grade and
slope control on the milling ma-
chine."
Deahl, who has been in the
business for 50 years, spoke on
the complexities of compaction at
