Paving Asphalt

A paving company found out that low-cost asphalt is no bargain when you consider how difficult it is to work with and the lower quality of the final product. It turned to RiverLift for high-quality asphalt that delivers greater total value.

Background
A paving company was contracted to patch up and overlay a number of small driveways. Because of the shape of the driveways, the company could not use a paving machine to place all of the asphalt. Some had to be bucketed in with a skid steer loader, dumped and hand spread by a labor crew with shovels and rakes.

Challenges
The company initially purchased hot mix asphalt from a low-price supplier. It met PADOT specifications, but turned out to be hard to work with. Consequently, each job took longer than estimated. When finished, the driveway surface also looked rough, falling short of the contractor's quality standards.

The low-price supplier was using a high percentage of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) in its mix. RAP is a much cheaper substitute for limestone aggregate, and PADOT permits plants that run RAP to use significantly less liquid asphalt cement than plants that do not mix in RAP. At $390 per ton, liquid asphalt cement is the most expensive component used in hot mix asphalt, so some producers look for every means possible to cut back on the percentage they add to their mix. The more RAP they run, the less liquid asphalt and limestone they have to purchase and haul in from quarries. The problem is that RAP causes the mix to be hard to work with and less reliable in terms of quality.

Solution
The paving company switched to RiverLift, who does not use RAP in its hot mix. RiverLift's asphalt is a combination of virgin limestone, river sand and 100% liquid asphalt cement. RiverLift's asphalt may cost a bit more, but it arrived hot on the job, was easier to work with, and resulted in a superior final product.