Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/757428
December 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 46 roadbed down to about 18 inches, leaving a trail of what looks like dirt to a bystander. "Most people describe it as a garden tiller," says Mandy Alston, project manager for Atlanta Paving & Concrete Construction in Nor- cross, Georgia. "I chuckle about it because it's the first description you can give somebody." Atlanta Paving has been per- forming FDR projects for more than a decade; a time during which they have seen a steady in- crease in demand for the process. This demand has allowed them to grow from one full-time FDR crew, to three, Alston says. "A company came down from Canada and started trying to break into the Georgia market with FDR," Alston says. Atlanta Paving founder Ernie Lopez viewed the process at work, and liked what he saw. "Ernie saw that it was something innovative and believed it was go- ing to be the next big thing." From that mindset, Lopez pushed ahead with FDR, purchasing a Wirtgen recycler and bringing on a full time crew and a superinten- dent. "He always had this thought that you've got to be on the cusp of what's really going to change things around here," Alston says. Seeing is believing But what's problematic about a new process, no matter how in- novative it may be, is convincing stakeholders that it's as good as it looks on paper. "When you start talking about pulverizeing the road, or regrading and reconstructing the road, and people see asphalt being turned into dirt and they panic some- times," Alston says. "They think they're getting a dirt road again. Some days, it's comical." Convincing nonbelievers that FDR can provide a stronger and longer lasting roadway – one that can be opened up to traffic quickly – is one of the top challenges At- lanta Paving faces, Alston explains. "People who don't see it in per- son don't understand it," she says. "Until you get a person out there to see what that mixer does, it's hard for some people to conceptual- ize what you mean: that I'm going to tear the road up, but that I will hand it back to you at the end of the day and it's drivable." "It's all about somebody seeing road science | continued A legal pad offers an idea of the scale of the depth of the pulverization process that is part of FDR. On the left is untouched roadway. Image: Brian K. Diefenderfer, Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation & Research