At Milestone we live by Making Lives Better One Road and Bridge at a Time. One way we are honoring that is by partnering with our sister companies: Heritage Research Group (HRG), Asphalt Materials (AMI), and US Aggregates to create roads that are strong, built to last longer, sustainable, and cost effective throughout the Midwest Region.
One solution the team has found that is not only cost efficient, but sustainable and durable is Cold-Construction Asphalt Pavement (CCAP). CCAP® is a cold mix asphalt made from a blend of crushed aggregate and gelled asphalt. The gel-like structure branches out and connects to itself, allowing the material to maintain shape just like a honeycomb. This gives the material strength and flexibility surrounding the aggregate. The cold mix may be stockpiled for weeks or up to a few months and placed using a paver for road repair such as patching potholes or adding a new layer to low-volume roads.
The CM-150 gelled asphalt used in our current Morgan County project was produced at the Indianapolis AMI plant, and an AMI pugmill mixed the modified asphalt with virgin limestone aggregate at US Aggregates’ 243 Quarry in Cloverdale, Indiana. The pugmill system allows a set amount of asphalt binder to combine with the aggregate. The mixing is performed at ambient temperatures, resulting in low emissions and reduced energy consumption, making CCAP® a very sustainable option for agencies.
CCAP IN ACTION
Our Milestone dump trucks arrived at Quarry 243 on July 10 to pick up the CCAP® to begin our work on improving county roads in Morgan County. Jared Staggs, Foreman, and his crew were on site ready to pave and roll the CCAP®. This job consists of three days in which nearly three miles of this asphalt will be laid. Our work on improving Morgan Co. began in 2021, when Marissa Childs, Pavement Material Engineer, from the HRG Lab took cores of pavement from the road to test. Through her research she has found that CCAP is a sustainable and cheaper option for the county as it will last decades longer than traditional asphalt mixtures.
We asked Senior Operation Manager, Rob Rood, what it meant to him to have a new product that offers not only decreased emissions, but meant longer lasting roads for the customer:
“I have been with the company for over 16 years, and I am proud to see how we continually strive to make our product line stronger than before. It makes me proud to work for a company who is taking the lead in research and innovation. By working together HC+M can be a one stop shop for our customers.” – Rob Rood, SR. Operation Manager Milestone
We look forward to sharing more sustainable solutions with you, to learn more about recent news stories follow the link here: https://www.milestonelp.com/blog
Contributions to the story made by: Zoe Buhl + Ashlyn Halstead