Cold mix asphalt that sets hard and is as permanent as hot mix. That’s the promise of EZ Street, an American developed product that is now part of the PRS specialty products range.

PRS has been toll-manufacturing EZ Street – say it the American way: “Easy Street” – for three years and recently took over the Australian licence from the previous marketing company. This enables Pioneer to use its national manufacturing, sales and distribution network to bring this innovative product to a wider range of customers, including retail outlets.

But what is EZ Street? “It’s a permanent, cold asphalt that uses a special polymer and manufacturing process to quickly achieve a level of hardness and durability that is unavailable in cold asphalt, and rivals that of hot mix,” explains Douglas Cousins, national key products manager.

How quickly? “Once compacted, a pothole, for example, that has been repaired with EZ Street is trafficable immediately,” he responds. “In fact, the more trafficking the patch receives the harder it sets.”

EZ Street also doesn’t require a tack coat to ensure it bonds with the pothole, in fact it can even be placed in a water-filled hole! That makes it ideal for a road repairer who can carry a bag of EZ Street in the ute and effect a permanent repair in minutes with minimal equipment. It is even possible to compact by rolling a car wheel back and forth over the mix.

Not that EZ Street is restricted to filling potholes. Doug also cites utilties (water, gas, electricity) who need to reinstate a road or footpath opening. Using EZ Street effects an immediate permanent repair, eliminating the need to have a temporary cold mix repair followed a week or so later by hot mix. That saves time and money.

EZ Street can also be used in remote communities or operations that are far from a hot mix plant. This could allow a remote settlement to construct an asphalt footpath, for example. With some basic equipment and a little training the task could even be performed by local labour instead of bring in an outside crew. Add to that list remote mine sites, farms and military bases and you are beginning to see the bigger EZ Street picture.

So what’s the catch? “EZ Street in bulk costs about three times that of hot mix, more so in one tonne bulk sacks, 15 and 22 kilo bags and 20 kilo buckets,” Doug says simply. “But when this is offset against the extra costs in making a cold mix repair, for example, and then having to bring in a hot mix crew, the cost savings can swing EZ Street’s way.”

PRS is manufacturing EZ Street in Sydney and Melbourne, and looking to expand to other plants. (The process requires some simple modifications to a standard asphalt plant.)

Bags and buckets of EZ Street are available most PRS depots, and the bags are sold nationally through a number of hardware supplies chains.

Check out the EZ Street website in Australia at www.ezstreetasphalt.com.au.

Download a printable PDF here.

At Duval Asphalt, being first is never as important as being the best. Well, this time it looks like Duval has accomplished both. As recipient of the Diamond Achievement Quality Production Award for both of their asphalt manufacturing facilities, Duval Asphalt becomes the first company in the country to achieve this goal – out of over 4,000 other facilities across the states. 

“The award process required a rigorous self-examination of every aspect our production capabilities. The award not only highlights what is being done right, but provides our team with an opportunity to look for ways we can improve on what we are already doing,” said Dan Engle, head of Duval Asphalt’s manufacturing facilities. Whether it’s the production of hot asphalt for a major development or EZ STREET cold asphalt for the maintenance and repair of roads and parking lots, the production plan ensures that every customer entering and leaving Duval’s facilities will always get a premium product. “That’s very important to us.”

The Diamond Achievement Commendation focused mainly on plant practices, as a blueprint for excellence in material supply in the asphalt industry. Quality Management practices from RAP and Aggregate Handling, Asphalt Storage, Drying and Mixing, Air Quality, Truck Scales, Silos, and Control Rooms were the main focus. Extensive supporting documentation such as technician certificates, laboratory accreditation, and third-party reviews were pre-requisite to the process.

As a privately owned, US operator of asphalt facilities, Duval Asphalt has maintained impeccable plants in the heart of Jacksonville for over 25 years. Duval Asphalt’s Plants #1 and #2 has previously been awarded NAPA’s Diamond Achievement Commendation as well as NAPA’s Ecological Awards.

Duval Asphalt provides a full range of asphalt manufacturing products and construction services to the North Florida market. For more information about the company, visit www.duvalasphalt.com

Longer-lasting filler could save city both time and money

Crews patching potholes in Edmonton this spring will be testing a new material the city hopes will last through wet spring road conditions, city officials announced Wednesday.

Potholes are traditionally filled with what’s known as cold mix this time of year, but the material can weaken when it gets wet, meaning crews sometimes have to go back and patch holes a second time.

This new material works well with water and bonds better with roads, meaning potholes will stay filled. It also means crews can work on potholes even during wet weather.

“What this allows us to do is if the potholes stay filled, then we’re able to get on to filling the other holes that may take a little bit longer to fill otherwise,” said Al Cepas, pavement management engineer with the City of Edmonton.

The material, which Cepas said is a proprietary secret, was developed in Florida.

Edmonton is one of the first cities to try it out. The city of Yellowknife has already been using it exclusively to patch its potholes, Cepas said.

The city mixed up the additive with its usual asphalt material and tried it out for the first time last fall.

“We’re seeing some pretty good success with it,” Cepas said. “We’re hoping to see that this material will replace the old cold mix we’ve been using for forever and a decade.”

The city fills about 400,000 potholes a year.

The new additive is about 35 per cent more expensive and will cost the city between $30,000 and $40,000 extra every year but is expected to last much longer.

Copyright © CBC 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Christa Rehlinger
Colorado Asphalt Services
(303) 292-3434
christa@coloradoasphaltservices.com
http://www.coloradoasphalt.com

EZ STREET® Arrives to Permanently Repair Colorado Potholes

Denver, Colorado – February 19, 2008 – Just in time for “Spring break up”, Colorado Asphalt Services of Denver, CO has brought one of the world’s most formidable and economical solutions to the road industry.

This is asphalt, you’re asking? Yes!

EZ STREET is a polymer modified cold asphalt, developed over 12 years ago by a Miami based technology company that recognized the need for a better solution. In use by state agencies across the country, and throughout the world from Melbourne, Australia to Santiago, Chile, EZ STREET is “cold”, and can be used in inclement weather conditions, a variety of temperatures, and can even be put in a pothole full of water!

Bumper Crop.

“With above average snow falls this year, the pothole season is bound to be a long and drawn out one, delivering a healthy dosage of freeze-thaw activtity”, says Christa Rehlinger, Colorado Asphalt’s Marketing Manager, the one responsible for providing the education to the end user, as to the benefits of using EZ STREET over conventional products. In years past, the Colorado Department of Transportation, cities, and private contractors did not have the level of technology as they do now, with a solution like EZ STREET, to rapidly and permanently solve pothole problems. Now they do. Our combined investment in EZ STREET is an investment in the future infrastructure needs of the state. The less funds there are for major construction, state and local agencies will need “fix it now” solutions – and EZ STREET provides that, but with a far greater degree of intermediate and long term results than anything else out there.” EZ STREET is being featured in a live demonstration at the 35th Annual Rocky Mountain Asphalt Conference, alongside Colorado’s Governor Bill Ritter – who will be there to explain his plan to increase funding for Colorado roadways. To be part of this live action demonstration, please contact Christa at 303.931.7530.

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Click here for Press Photos

 Auto dealers in the northeast are noticing the extensive pothole damage this year caused by the constant warming and cooling. Kent Brown Toyota in Elmira, New York writes this service tip in response to the pothole epidemic:

“In many areas of the country, the snow and ice of winter have left roads in bad shape. The repeated freezing and thawing of moisture seeps through road surfaces and causes potholes.

Hitting potholes can throw your vehicle’s front end out of alignment. If you feel your car “pulling” during driving, that’s a clue that you could have a problem. Check the tread on your tires: uneven tread wear can be a sign of misalignment. If you hit a severe pothole, have your dealer check your vehicle’s alignment and tire balance.
When you hit a pothole you can damage your tire and/or the metal wheel of your vehicle. Keeping your tires properly inflated will help reduce damage from potholes and other road hazards.

The impact of potholes on tires increases dramatically with speed and can cause hidden, internal damage that could lead to tire failure weeks, or even months later. It’s best to avoid potholes entirely, but if that’s not possible; don’t just brake during the pothole impact. Instead, apply brakes before hitting a pothole and release them just prior to impact. Braking during the impact sets up the wheel and tire assembly for a “solid hit” against the edge of the hole. Less severe damage occurs when a tire is rolling than when it is skidding over a hole during braking.”

Visit http://www.kbtoyota.com/potholes.html for the full story…

MIAMI, FL (10/24/07) — As major Department of Transportation road spending dwindles in many states  –  streets and highways won’t be getting paved as often- so, where does that leave our major mode of transportation?

With the coffers going dry, many state and local municipalities will be forced to revert to maintenance of roads, aka, patching. Call it a band aid, fine, but something is better than nothing. Or is it? And, while it’s unfortunate that we wait for the economic cycles to dictate our policies for infrastructure repair – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you don’t change the oil on your car, get the tires aligned, and take a periodic gander under the hood – eventually both you and your car will miss some work days. So, why are the streets any different? Well, they’re not.

Maintenance of roads. A bandaid on a road can be a good thing, but one needs to be selective about what is used. Most patches in urban markets that experience radical temperature swings, well, they usually don’t last past the day – just ask the cop on the corner beat, he’ll set the record straight. So, fixing them right is a challenge, otherwise, you’ll be back out there the next day – doing it again. Not good if you’re a mayor seeking re-election.

What are the choices?

We’ve come across some new technology (ok, maybe not that new), but new to us, that warrants more consideration when times are tough, and patching is the only thing you can afford. Cold asphalt technology has come a long ways, and a few companies are offering products that can withstand the rigors of the big city streets, in all weather, hot or cold, rain or shine. While the initial cost is higher, manufacturers claim that the city crews will be less taxed by freeing up equipment, and will be able to perform the repairs, even if the weather conditions are inclement. Moreover, these permanent asphalt cold mix products come with guarantees. So, when you do the math, it appears that there is some considerable savings, when one compares the labor and equipment expenses that accompany these fixes – when more temporary products, such as conventional cold mix or hot mix is used. I’m encouraged. Now, if they could just patch that pothole on in my subdivision – Now, that sounds like pothole relief.

MIAMI, FL (10/23/07) — The United States Department of Transportation says that more then 8.5 million miles of public roadway make up the US Highway system. It is the largest network of roadways in the world. Of those 8.5 million miles, more than half are asphalt-paved roads. In short, that’s a lot of pavement. Since a great majority of the US road system was paved in the 1950s and 1960s, it is not surprising to find some degradation in its infrastructure. If you drive across the country you will find roads in various states of repair – some newly paved and some damaged – and the most common complaint heard from drivers is about the pothole.

Pothole repair – also called asphalt patching – has become more efficient over the decades with new systems, products and methods for roadway repair. Today, roadways can be resurfaced or patched faster and with better durability than ever before. But it was the development of cold asphalt – a polymer-modified, high-performance, heat-resistant, non-messy and incredibly durable asphalt – in the mid-90s that quickly earned the praise of the building and construction industry worldwide and revolutionized the process of repairing public roadways.

To truly understand the impact of cold asphalt on road repair, you need to understand the impact of potholes on the American economy and how a pothole develops.

A pothole is simply a defect in the road usually caused by environmental factors such as ice, heat, and rain. Potholes can be caused by anything that puts a cut in the road surface, but the biggest contributor to road damage is good old Mother Nature. A road expands and contracts with the hot and cold temperatures of the environment. It naturally fractures and cracks – a process similar to the aging process of your skin when exposed to harsh elements. As the cracks become more significant, water can collect in those spaces after it snows or rains and the surrounding pavement literally begins to chip away and separate – a pothole is born.

The origins of the term “pothole” are probably related to its characteristic shape, which is roughly circular and pot like. The term is also used by geologists to refer to the natural erosion processes on rocks and in rivers that form basins. It is also used in some parts of the Western United States to describe a dirt or mud wallow used by cattle and pigs. All of the meanings of the word are clearly related as they all describe pits or holes in a surface.

Potholes negatively affect driving conditions because they make the road coarse and bumpy. As chunks of pavement are pulled out, the pothole will grow every larger and deeper, and it can spread quickly across the entire roadway if it is not addressed. For this reason, road crews attempt to regularly inspect roads to monitor signs of potholes and arrest their growth if they are discovered. But with more than 8 million miles of roadway it is inevitable that every driver will experience some interactions with potholes. The end result can be a bumpy ride, or the worst-case scenario can be a damaged wheel or car alignment. The US Department of Transportation spent $286.4 billion repairing and fixing existing federal highways in 2005, but still they estimate that bad roadways cost Americans $54.8 billion in car repairs each year – that’s $275 per motorist.

Cold Asphalt Changes the Way We Repair

Road crews continue to repair potholes by filling them with replacement pavement material of some kind. But the traditional method of using hot asphalt required big equipment and a moderate climate that allowed the hot asphalt to be poured and cured before rain or cold could come into contact with it. In some cities that would mean a total of 90 days a year to complete roadway repairs before temperatures or inclement weather prohibited the work. But cold patch technology – also known as cold mix and cold asphalt – changed everything. Cold asphalt is applied straight from the container or the back of a truck, without heating. It is easy to tamp down and doesn’t require complicated expensive machinery. Cold asphalt can be applied at all times of the year and it can stop the further expansion of a pothole in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days. In short, cold asphalt is so easy to use and cost effective that roads can be patched and repaired faster than ever before.

Cold asphalt can be used on every surface defect from the smallest pothole to very large utility cuts and the roadway can be driven on that same day.

EZ Street Cold Asphalt is an advanced cold mix product that can repair potholes permanently with a single application. It is so easy to use that any homeowner can make driveway repairs in a single afternoon. But EZ Street cold patch is durable enough to stand up to busiest interstate traffic, making it the perfect solution for repairing those 8.5 million miles we travel.

OK … got your atten­tion yet?

As real estate and property owners and property managers, it is your obligation to maintain the integrity and condition of your parking lots, not only for “curb appeal” and possible rental space, but also for the value of the real estate investment. Deferred mainte­nance of asphalt ends up being a disaster later in time. From an asphalt maintenance com­pany’s perspective, as the old saying goes, “Pay me now, or pay me lots more later.” It is no different than telling your dentist that even though you have a cavity in a tooth, do not fill it now – and then lose your entire tooth in a couple of years, due to lack of effort, money or desire to remedy the problem when it first became apparent.

Webster’s Dictionary dis­closes that the word “pothole” originated in approximately 1926. The primary definitions are: “(1) a sizable rounded often water-filled depression in land; (2) a pot-shaped hole in a road surface.” So, you see, there is no cannabis in “potholes”!

Potholes are created when pavement or material beneath it, called base, subbase, or subgrade, cannot support the weight of traffic. Likewise, there is always water associated with the creation of potholes, as described above.

Proper asphalt maintenance includes sev­eral efforts, and some amount of money. You must maintain it, like your teeth, your vehi­cles, your houses, etc., or you will pay dearly later. The primary things needed to be done on a regular basis (either every year, or every other year, or sometimes a bit longer) are the fol­lowing:

1. Crack-fill cracks every year – otherwise, they get much worse, and then they can ruin an entire asphalt surface, over time.

2. Fix potholes every time they appear, and do not delay! Otherwise, as in cracking, they will cause the entire asphalt surface around them to dete­riorate to a condition known as “alligatoring” (which looks like alligator skin – asphalt crack­ing up everywhere).

3. Seal coat every two or three years to increase the lifespan of your asphalt.

For surface blemishes only, use infrared patching, which is a giant heater-like device that heats up only the top inch or so of asphalt and replaces it with replacement asphalt. This is a superficial fix, and does not address pothole problems or subgrade issues. It is widely overused because it is cheap­er than a proper “repair-and-replace” method of repairing potholes or larger alligatored or cracked areas, but it will last only temporarily when improperly used in such situ­ations.

In warm weather, the proper “fix” for a pothole is to have the hole cleaned and dried, and “sawcut” for clean edges, then having new hot-mix asphalt used to fill the hole. This is a permanent repair. In cold weath­er, the hole can be cleaned out and “cold-mix” asphalt can be installed to temporarily fill the whole, until it is warm enough (in the ground) for a proper hot-mix repair. Another new alternative, and there are a couple of products now being created, is to use a product like EZ STREET cold asphalt, which is a special cold mix that can be used in any temperatures to permanent­ly fix the potholes or cracks. These products are a bit more “pricey” at first blush, but they save money in the long run, in that they eliminate the need for two repairs on one hole (i.e., first cold mix, then later replaced by hot mix in warmer weather).

H. Wayne Leiser

President and CEO, Colorado Asphalt Services Inc., Commerce City. Leiser is on the board of directors of the Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association and the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

From www.crej.com