REPOST: Report: Bad roads cost Californians billions

Californians have all the right to complain given their poorly maintained roads. Apart from the stress and hassle, motorists have to shoulder more than $40 billion yearly for repairs. More about the burden of Californian commuters from this News10.net report:

Image Source: news10.net

LOS ANGELES (AP) - All those potholes, traffic jams and unsafe roads cost Californians more than hassle and stress.


A transportation advocacy group called TRIP has estimated how much money motorists lose due to poorly maintained highways and major roads.


According to a report released Thursday, Californians pay an extra $44 billion each year for repairs, accidents and time and fuel burned in traffic.


The formula estimating the cost is not exact, and the report is intended to spur greater transportation spending.


Still, TRIP takes a reasonable stab at putting a price tag on the problem.


Caltrans says in fiscal year 2014 it spent $665 million to maintain and preserve 2,700 lane miles of pavement.


That's barely a dent in the estimated $8.2 billion per year needed to fix aging state highways.

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REPOST: Light asphalt saves lives, says Dutch company

Experts are keeping their fingers crossed on the possibility of a light-reflecting asphalt to provide energy and cost saving benefits and to promote road safety. Read more about the light-reflecting experiment in the article below.

 

Image Source: nltimes.nl

Experiments on light-reflecting asphalt point to the possibility that road administrators could save millions on road-side lighting on highways. In the dark, road-users could even find their way without headlights, De Telegraaf reports.


The first results are in after a long-term experimentation from Dura Vermeer and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment on the use of the ‘white asphalt’.

In 2011, the Luminumpave, designed by Dura Vermeer, was laid on the A35 near Hengelo, as well as in areas of Purmerend and Hoofdorp, as a test area to see whether the asphalt with various mixture compounds could withstand the test of time.

According to innovation manager Robbert Naus, the ‘white’ roads could save up to 50 percent of the public illumination currently necessary. “This could mean enormous energy saving and corresponding reduction of CO2  emissions if this is administered.”

Last year, the Minisry of Infrastructure and Environment decided to cut the lights on half of the highways after 11 p.m. to save costs. This is hoped to save €35 million by 2020. Naus believes that the white asphalt could be an alternative.

The light-reflecting asphalt is also safer as road-users can see each other as well as the road more clearly, Naus says. The manager tells the paper that negotiations are underway with the provinces of Overijssel and Noord-Holland about the possible administration of the white pavement. Rotterdam is also interested.

The asphalt is slightly more expensive than the normal kind, but this will be made up for by the reduction of lighting necessary. “And if it then also reduces the chance of accidents and is CO2-friendly, it means a win-win situation”, Naus tells De Telegraaf.

Tunnels could be the first targets for the light asphalt because they are lit at all times, offering the most profit from this scheme. Naus says that the white asphalt could also simply work in strategic locations such as dark corners on roads or in the vicinity of schools, sporting associations and residential areas to increase safety.

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REPOST: The road less worn

This report features Adam Belaid and Mohammad Salameh from Amman, Jordan, who finished as finalists in the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Competition in Los Angeles. The two teens developed a hybrid of asphalt and rubber from discarded tires, which tests have shown to improve road quality and durability, possibly extending pavement life from the usual five years to a maximum of 15 years.  

Mixing powdered rubber from old tires into asphalt can boost a road’s lifetime and decrease the need for maintenance

Image Source: student.societyforscience.org

LOS ANGELES — Tires. Every vehicle needs them, but eventually they wear out. Roads wear out too, and they often need to be repaired. But new research by a pair of teens suggests that the rubber from worn-out tires could boost the lifetime of asphalt pavement. A second benefit: Roads made with this material might need fewer patches.

The young researchers presented showcased their findings here this week as finalists at the International Science and Engineering Fair, or ISEF. Created by the Society for Science & the Public and sponsored by Intel, the 64th annual Intel ISEF showcases some of the best high school science projects from around the globe. (SSP also publishes Science News for Students).

Many roads are made with asphalt. The gooey black sludge is the densest part of petroleum, or crude oil. (Lighter components of crude oil include the substances used in gasoline and home-heating oil.) But Jordan is a country that has very few oil wells or other sources of petroleum, notes Mohammad Salameh. He’s a 10th-grader at the International School in Amman, Jordan.

For Jordan, having to import most of the country’s petroleum adds greatly to its cost, the teen notes. The extra expense means that there’s less money to build and maintain roads. That has led to poorer quality roads. As a result, those roads need to be patched almost constantly. And a typical road there must be replaced every 5 years or so, says Mohammad.

So 16-year-old Mohammad and his research partner, 15-year-old classmate Adam Belaid, came up with the idea of adding rubber to asphalt to improve road quality. But that rubber doesn’t need to be new — it can come from old tires. Even a worn-out tire contains a lot of rubber, which means that the material should be plentiful, says Mohammad. Drivers in Jordan replaced 9 million tons of tires between 2006 and 2010, and only 0.3 percent of that rubber was recycled. That leaves a lot of rubber that could potentially go into road construction.

But first the teens had to show that adding rubber to asphalt resulted in better roads. To test their idea, they created several different asphalt-rubber recipes. They also tried out different temperatures at which the mix was heated. And they experimented with the size of small rocks that were blended into the mixture.

Normally, a mix of rock and asphalt is heated to 160° Celsius (320° Fahrenheit) before it is spread on a roadbed. But when the teens tested a mix of 92 percent asphalt and 8 percent powdered rubber that had been heated to that temperature, about 9 percent of the volume of this road-surfacing material consisted of air bubbles. On most road surfacing, the empty space (bubbles) will be less than half that amount, says Mohammad. So the teens tried cooking their mixes at 190 °C (374 °F). They also reduced the size of the rocky bits that they blended into the hot goop. Those changes seemed to solve the problem. They cut the volume of air bubbles in the asphalt-rubber mix to about 4.5 percent.

The teens’ tests suggested that when this surfacing material includes 8 percent rubber, it should hold up for 10 to 15 years of traffic instead of the normal 5 years. And their recipe should reduce the need for patching worn areas from once a year, not, to maybe once every 5 to 7 years in the future.
 
Best of all, say Mohammad and Adam, finding a new use for old tires would help solve an environmental problem. Normally, people dispose of old tires by burning them, which adds to air pollution, or burying them, which can pollute groundwater. When the rubber is added to asphalt, it’s largely locked away and prevented from harming the environment.

Power words

asphalt    The densest portion of crude oil, or petroleum.

pavement    The durable surface laid down to help a road, street or sidewalk stand up to vehicle or foot traffic. Pavements can be gravel or cobblestones, but most modern roads and streets are made of asphalt or concrete.

petroleum    Also known as crude oil, petroleum is a mix of hydrocarbons that often includes methane and ethane gas, many components of gasoline, and denser substances such as asphalt.
 
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REPOST: Obama To Propose $302 Billion Highway Repair Program

President Barack Obama laid out a proposal for a four-year, multibillion-dollar project that will fix crumbling roads and bridges across the country. This TIME article has additional details on the infrastructure project.

U.S. Route 95 in Las Vegas, Nevada | Image source: time.com

The White House said President Obama is set to unveil a $302 proposal to repair and rebuild roads, bridges and transit systems across the U.S., including funding from $150 billion in revenue raised through what the administration is calling "pro-growth business tax reform"

President Obama will propose a four-year, $302 billion transportation program on Wednesday to repair and rebuild roads, bridges and transit systems, the White House said.

The program would include funding from $150 billion in revenue raised through “pro-growth business tax reform”, said the White House. The initial announcement said this would include “closing unfair tax loopholes, lowering tax rates, and making the system more fair,” though it included few specific details.

Infrastructure in the United States has deteriorated in recent years, and the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country’s roads, ports, bridges and other infrastructure an overall grade of D+ last year in its annual rating program. The Associated Press found last year that 65,605 bridges in the federal National Bridge Inventory were classified as “structurally deficient.”

The Obama administration called for a $77 billion transportation program last year as part of its 2013 budget proposal and has proposed other measures in the past, but the efforts have stalled in Congress.

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REPOST: New Rubber Asphalt Being Tested Could Mean Less Potholes

Tests are underway in Mid-Michigan to improve asphalt roads by adding rubber from old tires to increase the roads elasticity.  Read this article from WILX.com for the full report:

Image Source: www.wilx.com

It's a bumpy ride for drivers all over Mid-Michigan as we find ourselves in the midst of pothole season.

But there are some stretches of road right now where it's actually pretty smooth sailing.

Ingham County is in the midst of testing out a new paving technique using rubber from old tires that might actually help reduce the number of potholes down the road.

There are currently three stretches of road in the Lansing area that have received the rubber treatment including Waverly Road between Miller and Jolly, Haslett Road between Park Lake and Okemos, and Cornell Road between M-43 and Haslett.

The method is also being tested in Saginaw County.

"Grants have been given to develop and research mixtures involving recycled tire rubber in the asphalt paving mixture," said Bill Conklin, director for the Ingham County Road Department.

"The rubber added to the asphalt amends the properties to keep asphalt elastic for a longer period of time."

The added rubber keeps the pavement flexible, making it less prone to cracking which could potentially mean less potholes, according to Conklin.

Given the current state of Michigan's roads and road funding, Conklin said the priority now is figuring out how to do more with less.

"What we're doing is using higher-technology materials to do more road or a better job with the funding we have."

But where the rubber meets the road there's also a bigger price tag compared to regular asphalt or concrete, ringing up at roughly $20 more per ton, which can add up quickly when paving miles of road.

"Being a new product with a market not exactly set up to mass produce this material it's a little more expensive at this time," Conklin said.

Conklin said the county is working with the Michigan DNR and the engineering department at Michigan State University on researching the material.

Since 2011, the county has received roughly $700,000 in grant money to help fund the three projects that totaled roughly $4 million to complete.

The county is still waiting to determine the success of the current trials.

"Certainly for the next half dozen years we want to observe this and see how it's looking at age 10," Conklin said. "At 10 years we should be able to discern differences... but for the first few years we've seen we're happy with the performance."

Bennett Road in Okemos could be the next road to receive the treatment, according to Conklin.

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REPOST: Road construction underway in downtown Beaufort

The construction of new roads, posts, and street signs begin in Beaufort, South Carolina, as part of the local government’s development projects. The Beaufort Gazette has the report:  

 Image Source: islandpacket.com

 

Road construction in downtown Beaufort is getting started with one of several projects on the to-do lists of the city, Beaufort County and the S.C. Department of Transportation.

Work is planned for portions of Charles Street, at its intersection with Boundary Street and between its intersections with Bay and Craven streets. Brief delays and lane closures in the coming months will occur, according to the city.

The city, county and state are collaborating on a $300,000-plus project to install new mast arms for traffic lights and signs on Charles Street. The city's portion is $55,000, according to the release.

Work at the intersection of Charles and Bay streets began Monday and is expected to take about three weeks, city public works director Isiah Smalls said. The right-hand, eastbound lane is temporarily closed on Bay Street, approaching Charles Street.

Walker Bros. of Lexington was picked by the city and state to perform the work, and Smalls said the new mast arms will be stronger and less likely to be damaged by strong winds than the current traffic signals.

Work on the Craven Street intersection will start in about three weeks, and once a foundation for the mast arm is poured, prep work will begin on the Boundary Street intersection, Smalls said.

The mast arm installation is occurring before DOT returns to finish road milling and paving on Charles and North streets and other city streets. That work was originally to be done as early as September, after paving was completed on Bay and Lafayette streets. The contractor, APAC Inc., left to complete other projects and has not returned. Smalls has not been notified of a new start date.

That delay could be to the city's advantage, Smalls said. He prefers the road cutting and work to occur before the milling and paving.

The city is also working on a project to replace 65 light poles and add another 13 on Bay, Carteret, Craven, Charles and Port Republic streets. There are currently no poles on Craven Street or on West Street between Port Republic and Craven streets, but that will change with the new lights. That work was to begin as early as January, but the city has had difficulty finding a company to do the work and "reining in costs," Smalls said, and it has not been rescheduled. The project was bid out in December and rebid in January after no bids were submitted, Smalls said.

After considering the $455,000 budget and options, such as brick pavers over a utility trench that will need be dug along the sidewalk, the city sought revised bids, and staff is considering those, Smalls said.

"We have to evaluate and compare and really go over it with a fine-toothed comb," he said.
SCE&G is sharing the cost of that project.

Follow reporter Erin Moody at twitter.com/IPBG_Erin.

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2014/02/03/2927598/road-construction-underway-in.html#storylink=cpy

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REPOST: New road paving technique means quieter I-5

Residents living along the stretch of Interstate 5 are enjoying quiet nights since the road was improved using a new technique in road paving. Read the whole story in this article from 10news.com.

SAN DIEGO - Caltrans has done something never seen in California before. Deep grooves now stretch on a small area of Interstate 5 in North County and Caltrans says the results are in -- the  “next generation concrete surface” has made the area much quieter and the residents much happier.

Image Source: www.10news.com

Corridor residents 10News spoke to who live along the stretch of the I-5 between Via de la Valle and Lomas Santa Fe say the newly paved surface has been "life-changing."

“I’ve lived just up the hill for 30 years and [the noise] only increased over time,” said Cathy Borgia. “It was pretty bad, bad enough for me that I had to wear ear plugs to sleep at night.”

Borgia says the freeway noise issue has gotten much better in the last year and that even the morning commutes are quiet. 10News reporter Natasha Zouves strapped a GoPro to the side of a news van to see the reason why. The new paving technique works to reduce noise by making deep grooves in the road.

Caltrans says up to 90 percent of freeway noise is made when tires hit the pavement. The new grooves reduce the noise by about five decibels. But, perhaps more importantly, the grooves also change the frequency of the sound, making it much harder for the human ear to hear.

The GoPro footage 10News captured clearly shows the difference in noise. On the new surface, the driver can barely hear cars passing by.

The project began in May of 2012 and wrapped up in August.

“The project has been so successful, we’ve received two awards in the last three months,” said Arturo Jacobo of Caltrans. “We are very pleased with the results. For the residents that live adjacent to the corridor they can see the difference and hear the difference. We plan to use this technique in the upcoming North Coast Corridor Project.”

$3.2 Billion will go to the area between La Jolla Village Drive and Harbor Drive in Oceanside in the upcoming North Coast Corridor Project. Jacobo says the project will use this new paving technique and that, surprisingly, it comes at no extra cost. Four express lanes will be added to the existing eight lanes and construction will begin in late 2015.

10News spotted another resident of the corridor enjoying his bagels right next to the newly-ground freeway. Ron Carey is of another mind about peace and quiet. The New York native says in all the years he has been here, San Diego has never been too loud.

“This is quiet. The weather is great, people are very quiet here and you never see them, so it’s great,” said resident Ron Carey. “Don’t complain."

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