SCDOT wins a 2024 Asphalt Paving Alliance Perpetual Pavement Award by Design.
The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA) announced today that the South Carolina Department of Transportation has won a 2024 Perpetual Pavement by Design Award for I-85 in Cherokee County.
This award honors agencies whose outstanding design practices on their roadway networks meet Perpetual Pavement design standards. To qualify for this prestigious award, the completed project must have asphalt mixture binder and surface layers and be at least two miles in length--municipal roadways must be at least 1,200 feet in length. The National Center for Asphalt Technology engineer evaluated the nominations and validated the winners.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation won the award for a capacity expansion project on a two-mile segment of I-85 in Cherokee County, near the South Carolina/North Carolina state line. A lane was added in both eastbound and southbound directions, alleviating congested traffic that previously affected the area throughout the day. The pavement is designed to handle 1,318,249 equivalent single axle loads and features one of the last open-graded friction course (OGFC) surfaces implemented before this mix type was removed from the mix selection guide for interstates. OGFC provides enhanced wet-weather safety by allowing rainwater to drain through the surface, reducing hydroplaning risks. The six-lane roadway now accommodates an average of 57,300 vehicles daily, with 25% truck traffic. This project demonstrates the ability of asphalt Perpetual Pavements to effectively handle heavy traffic while requiring only minimal maintenance.
“Asphalt roads can be designed, built, and maintained to indefinitely prevent deep distresses,” said Dr. Buzz Powell, P.E., Technical Director of the APA. “The resulting Perpetual Pavement structure is an excellent investment for taxpayers because it only requires periodic surface renewal, has the most preservation options, and never requires reconstruction. Advantages of Perpetual Pavements include durability, economics, sustainability, and smoothness. The smoothness advantage of asphalt pavements is indefinitely extended with Perpetual Pavement since deep distresses that cause roughness never occur.”
The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (www.driveasphalt.org) is a coalition of the National Asphalt Pavement Association, the Asphalt Institute, and the State Asphalt Pavement Associations. The Asphalt Pavement Alliance’s mission is to establish asphalt as the preferred choice for quality, performance, and the environment.
The Asphalt Institute (www.asphaltinstitute.org) is the international trade association of petroleum asphalt producers, manufacturers, and affiliated businesses. AI promotes the use, benefits, and quality performance of petroleum asphalt, through engineering, research, marketing, and educational activities.
The National Asphalt Pavement Association (www.asphaltpavement.org) represents the interests of U.S. asphalt producers/contractors before Congress, federal agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roads, streets, highways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities.
The State Asphalt Pavement Associations (www.sapainc.org) represent the interests of asphalt pavement producers and paving companies at the state and local level across the United States.
Orange states are 2024 winners of PPA Awards by Design.
Congratulations again on the 2024 Perpetual Pavement Award. We wanted to send out special thank you to Dr. Dahae Kim and Mr. Eric Carroll of SCDOT OMR office for assisting us with the award submittal!
Sincerely,
SCAPA Staff