Skip to main content

Iowa expects longer lasting road surface

In the US state of Iowa, tough paving specifications are resulting in contractors delivering road surfaces that will last longer. The Iowa Department of Transportation (I-DOT) expects to see a highway road surface last 20 years and recently let the contract for a 25.7km road resurfacing project for Highway 92 between Winterset and Greenfield. The 40km link between the two towns sees an average 1,365 cars/day travel on the highway, which was last worked on in 1994 and its surface was due for replacement.
June 9, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
Norris Asphalt used its new Roadtec paver on a key contract in Iowa
In the US state of Iowa, tough paving specifications are resulting in contractors delivering road surfaces that will last longer. The 1229 Iowa Department of Transportation (I-DOT) expects to see a highway road surface last 20 years and recently let the contract for a 25.7km road resurfacing project for Highway 92 between Winterset and Greenfield.

The 40km link between the two towns sees an average 1,365 cars/day travel on the highway, which was last worked on in 1994 and its surface was due for replacement.

Norris Asphalt Paving was selected for the asphalt paving portion of the project. The stretch of Highway 92 is 8.5m wide with two 4.25m lanes, while the route was widened 610mm on each side. The milling and roadbed prep work was subcontracted by Norris to other contractors. A 7.4km stretch on the eastern end of the project posed a challenge because it had a concrete base. For their contractor to mill the on-average 114mm depth, Norris Asphalt had to close the stretch to traffic for 17 days. The rest of the highway project was milled cold-in-place with traffic flow maintained throughout construction. The milled asphalt was recycled as the contractor used 20% RAP in its HMA mix.

For the highway project, Norris Asphalt laid 11,031tonnes of HMA for the base lift and 22,405tonnes of asphalt was placed for the intermediate and surface layers. An additional 6.765tonnes of HMA was used for the widened roadway shoulders.

The firm used a new paver, a 1252 Roadtec RP-195e, which it had received just in time for the job. Roadtec helped train the crew, which was then able to start work immediately. The machine’s stability and good view from the operator station helped with the work according to the contractor. Another important benefit was the Guardian telematics system, which allowed the Roadtec engineers to address and repair a technical problem remotely within just 20 minutes.

The better stretch of Iowa Highway 92 is but one chunk of the 440km state highway that runs from east to west across the state. The work that Norris Asphalt Paving performed on the project was subject to the Iowa DOT’s Quality Management - Asphalt (QM-A) program, which holds the contractor responsible for mix design, sampling, testing, and making mix adjustments if necessary. Norris Asphalt’s finished road passed all of the I-DOT random density core tests, which check for voids. The finished asphalt paved surface achieved impressive profilograph-measured 12.61 to 12.9 International Roughness Index (IRI) scores.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Latest bitumen mixes improve roads, reduce noise
    February 14, 2012
    Special bitumen mixes and machines are capable of improving the service life of roads and reducing noise. Mike Woof and Patrick Smith report. The need to improve traffic flow in an important part of the City of Poznan, Poland, led to the decision to build a new 1.13km long dual carriageway.
  • Durability is crucial while warm mix technology can help disaster recovery
    February 21, 2013
    Why durability is crucial for both emerging and developed economies, and how warm mix technology can help disaster recovery - Kristina Smith reports. When CORE Construction, a 100% owned Ghanaian company, started working on road construction projects five years ago, it was difficult to source the right bituminous mixes. “In the past, most construction firms had a number of challenges when it came to bituminous works, since the local capacity was not well-developed,” said CORE CEO Frank Lartey. CORE’s soluti
  • Runway road rehabilitation
    February 29, 2012
    The Frankfurt/Hahn Airport is benefiting from an upgrade to its facilities as well as its road links that will help cope with increased traffic. The site was commissioned as a civilian airport in 1993 and is one of the fastest growing German airports as well as being the fourth largest cargo airport in Germany.
  • Cold milling popular for road materials recycling
    March 2, 2012
    Milling techniques remain one of the most widely used recycling methods