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Florida road repaving delivers better surfacing

Paving the road for Florida’s latest mega project is the job of Volvo CE equipped concrete and asphalt specialist Ajax Paving Industries. Florida’s Gulf Coast provides a strong draw for tourists and residents alike, with coastal cities like North Port featuring a humid subtropical climate, beaches and resorts. But beyond the city’s sandy beaches, the streets of North Port had fallen into disrepair, causing transportation troubles.
April 7, 2017 Read time: 3 mins
Contractor Ajax is using Volvo CE pavers for road resurfacing works in Florida
Paving the road for Florida’s latest mega project is the job of 359 Volvo CE equipped concrete and asphalt specialist Ajax Paving Industries

Florida’s Gulf Coast provides a strong draw for tourists and residents alike, with coastal cities like North Port featuring a humid subtropical climate, beaches and resorts. But beyond the city’s sandy beaches, the streets of North Port had fallen into disrepair, causing transportation troubles.

The city worked to keep up with the maintenance needs of the roads, most of which date back to the 1960s, but problems were occurring at a faster rate than repair.

In 2012, North Port was granted a US$46 million bond to upgrade substandard roads in the city. The project began in 2014 and would take three years and include six phases. When fully completed in 2017 the Road Bond Project will renew 428km of highway and include multiple bridges. Construction is now well underway with progress well on track.

Working for the city of North Port is specialist contractor Ajax Paving Industries, which was given the job of milling and resurfacing 108,862tonnes of asphalt as part of Phase Four. This includes putting 32mm of SM-9.5 overlay onto existing roads. For the paving work Ajax used a Volvo 7170 paver, supplied by local dealer Flagler Construction Equipment’s Southwest Florida branch.

The Volvo 7170 paver is fitted with the Ultimat 200, allowing paving widths of up to 6m. Starting at 7:00 in the morning, the screed is heated and within 30 minutes, the first load is arriving. Over the course of each day’s nine-hour shift, the crew lays between 680-726tonnes of asphalt.

Steve Ayers, area manager for Ajax, is pleased with the performance. “This is one of the industry’s true 6m extendable screeds,” he said. “We can complete this entire street in one pass instead of two, saving us time and money.”

Supplied with an extended warranty, the Volvo machine is operating at optimum levels. Dan Maitland, Ajax equipment operations manager, explained that the firm opted for the Volvo P7170 paver because the machine offers low repair and maintenance costs over the 5,000-6,000 operating hours it typically runs its machines for. Beyond total cost of ownership, preventative maintenance is also crucial to Ajax, with its dealer support also proving beneficial.

Satisfied with the Volvo CE machines and the support from Flagler, Ajax has added three of the P7170 pavers to the machine line up for use on projects throughout Florida.

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