Skip to main content

Warm mix/cold climates

MeadWestvaco (MWV) says that its Evotherm warm mix asphalt technology is now approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation (Colorado DOT) for use in statewide paving projects. The warm mix asphalt system can be used in any traditional hot-mix asphalt application, but with significantly lower temperatures required for paving application. This feature is particularly useful in Colorado's high altitude paving projects and has been tested extensively.
February 28, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
3325 MeadWestvaco (MWV) says that its Evotherm warm mix asphalt technology is now approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation (1490 Colorado DOT) for use in statewide paving projects. The warm mix asphalt system can be used in any traditional hot-mix asphalt application, but with significantly lower temperatures required for paving application. This feature is particularly useful in Colorado's high altitude paving projects and has been tested extensively.

In August 2007, CDOT and MWV began paving a portion of I-70 as an Evotherm test section near the Eisenhower and Johnson Tunnels. This paving project incurred some of the harshest environments to date where Evotherm had been applied - including 89mm of precipitation annually, much of which is frozen and equating to 508mm of snowfall. With 150-200 freeze thaw cycles annually, challenges from annual daily traffic equalling 30,000 vehicles/year on average and 10% truck traffic, this test area provided significant challenges.

CDOT said that the trial with MWV allowed it to answer lingering concerns regarding moisture susceptibility for warm mix asphalt. Even at an altitude of nearly 3,350m, the roadway paved with Evotherm is performing well. The CDOT and the National Center for Asphalt Testing (NCAT) recently published a three year project report, and Evotherm is said to have matched the performance of traditional hot mix asphalt.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Trial of innovative real-time alerts for wildlife on highways
    May 2, 2012
    The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is testing a first-in-the-USA detection system that alerts drivers in real time of wildlife on highways that cause risk to motorists. The OmniTrax solution from Senstar is based on a volumetric electromagnetic proven sensor, buried approximately one third of a metre underground and about 10 metres from either side of the roadway.
  • Innovative low temperature asphalt and aggregate options and advances
    May 16, 2014
    Studies show the asphalt sector has options for materials use that can lower costs and emissions, as well as increasing the use of recycling One study in the UK led by the Carbon Trust and Lafarge Tarmac has found that low temperature asphalt (LTA) could be used as an alternative to conventional asphalt on roads. Conventional asphalt is made when aggregates and bitumen are bound together at temperatures of between 180ºC-190ºC. However, the trial found that the alternative is able to bond road materia
  • New Zealand’s Waterview project is moving closer to completion
    December 13, 2016
    New Zealand’s biggest road project is less than a year away from completion, and a lot of progress has been made since World Highways last looked at the project two years ago - Mary Searle Bell reports New Zealand’s Waterview project is moving closer to completion and will be the largest road project in the country. The NZ$2 billion Western Ring Route will see the creation of an alternative motorway to State Highway 1, which runs through the centre of Auckland. The 47km-long motorway will allow a large p
  • Tarmac’s low temperature Ultilow asphalt mix used in Edinburgh
    November 28, 2016
    UK construction firm and asphalt producer Tarmac reports that its Ultilow low temperature asphalt helped a Scottish client keep on top of its sustainability targets.