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Elmore County Thinks Small to Tackle Big Maintenance
Problems
In 2005, Elmore County, Alabama, began experimenting with full-depth
reclamation (FDR) to meet its growing need to address base failures
on a maintenance level rather than by rehabilitating long stretches
of roadway.
County Engineer Richie Beyer was considering FDR for repair projects.
“Years of neglect have lead to a massive amount of base failures
on our 750-plus miles of paved roads,” says Beyer. “As
a general rule, our base problems are isolated on any given road
and do not require the entire road to be reclaimed. The damage is
so widespread that, unlike many counties which rehabilitate an entire
road in a year with much more costly and larger equipment, Elmore
County needed to modify the process of road reclamation to address
problems on a smaller scale.”
Beyer was looking for a process that would minimize resources and
labor by recycling materials in place while limiting the outlay
for equipment and providing more flexibility in its use.
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| Elmore County uses an Asphalt Zipper
reclaiming-milling attachment that works with a loader. |
On the equipment side, the county decided to purchase a 30-inch-wide
road reclaiming/ milling attachment that operates in association
with a loader. This piece of equipment, the AZ 300 from Asphalt
Zipper, was selected for its flexibility and its compatibility with
the county’s existing equipment. Because it functions as an
attachment to the loader rather than as a stand-alone piece of equipment,
crews could shift from base work and FDR to other tasks in a matter
of minutes.
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| Cement is distributed evenly over the roadway
with a modified chip spreader. |
The county also experimented with different types of road reclamation
processes and materials to use to stabilize the roadway. After many
months of experimenting and monitoring performance, the county decided
that the addition of portland cement into the reclamation process
provided the most effective and cost-efficient results.
Beyer also refined the method of distributing cement on the pavement.
Initially, workers manually distributed bags from the back of a
dump truck. Through trial and error, the county retrofitted a dump
truck with a modified chip spreader to distribute an even amount
of cement over the roadway. The process resulted in only minimal
dusting and required no heavy lifting. The county now loads the
dump truck with cement at a local ready mix plant and distributes
it as needed.
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| The Asphalt Zipper pulverizes the failed asphalt
roadway and mixes it with cement. |
The process meets Beyer’s goal of maximizing the use of limited
resources while addressing a major need in the county in a minimal
amount of time. The county has established a procedure for FDR that
utilizes a three-man crew, a loader, the Asphalt Zipper milling
attachment, a single axle dump truck, and a vibratory smooth drum
roller.
The process also minimizes road closings and inconvenience to the
driving public. The FDR work can be performed in a single lane.
The work zone is small and contained, allowing the county crew to
complete its work and move to the next site or road.
Beyer says his crew can reclaim a hundred-foot-long stretch of
road in few hours while maintaining traffic in the adjacent lane.
To honor their work in developing this innovative process, Beyer
and his crew received the Excellence in County Engineering Award
from the Association of Country Engineers of Alabama.
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