Everlast Pavements

Asphalt concrete pavement in service today can be called "neverlast". These pavements never last more than a few years after construction before the first signs of distress can be observed. "Neverlast" pavements are constructed of conventional asphaltic concrete and that also includes "superpave". Very few conventional pavements last more than 10 years and have to be re-surfaced or reconstructed. This routine is repeated endlessly and without hope of ever getting more service life out of the pavement. This means that towns, cities, counties, states and provinces spend enormous amounts of money only to have pavements fail repeatedly.

"Everlast" pavements on the other hand greatly mitigate or completely eliminate most failures for several decades. Numerous "Everlast" pavements have been constructed in the past 20 years. They have been shown to require very minor maintenance or no maintenance at all. What is an "Everlast" pavement and how does it differ from the "neverlast" conventional pavements?

"Everlast" pavements consist of composite construction. The two lift system has a bottom lift which can be placed direct over a gravel base or placed directly over the old failed pavement. This is followed by placing a lift of conventional asphalt concrete over the bottom lift which makes this pavement "everlasting". The "Everlast" bottom lift is composed of a processed, washed and non-crushed aggregate and a special chemically modified asphalt cement. The conventional top lift can be a dense-graded or gap-graded asphalt concrete such as "superpave". An essential criteria for the conventional gap is that the amount of -200 material is not to exceed 5.5 percent. This will ensure that the asphalt film thickness around the particles is greater than 8.0 microns. When this is so, the top lift will resist raveling and premature oxidation of the asphalt cement binder. The "Everlast" bottom lift will be rich in asphalt and will have an asphalt film thickness of 20 to 23 microns.

The "Everlast" bottom asphalt concrete mix is mixed between 250^oF and 270^oF in a drum or batch mixing plant. Because of the chemically modified asphalt binder and the low mixing temperature, the mix produced does not emit any noticeable smoke or any noticeable odour as a result. This mix has a lower impact on the environment and on the health of the paving crews.

"Everlast" Pavements (Analysis Of Performance)

The "Everlast" pavements have been in service for 20 years. During this time it was observed that these pavements are superior in every way to conventional asphalt concrete pavements. An analysis of their performance is as follows:

1.	Lower Impact On The Environment The "Everlast" bottom mix is produced at a lower temperature than conventional mix. As a result, very little smoke or odour is evident.

2.	Lower Impact On The Health Of Paving Crews Because of the low smoke and low odour levels during production and placing of the "Everlast" asphalt concrete bottom mix, the health of the paving crews is impacted less.

3.	Placing Of The "Everlast" Bottom Mix The "Everlast" bottom mix can be placed directly on a properly constructed gravel base in the case of new construction. When rehabilitating an old failed pavement, the "Everlast" bottom mix can be placed on the old pavement without prior repair of the old failed pavement. A prior tackcoat is also not required. The placing temperature can be as low as 200^oF without adverse impact on the density of the compacted mix.

4.	Compaction Of "Everlast" Bottom Mix The "Everlast" bottom mix can be readily compacted to its maximum density with only minimal effort. To compact the mix requires one large dual steel drum roller of 5 to 7 tonne capacity and a small dual steel drum roller. The compacted "Everlast" bottom mix (minimum 1 1/2 inches) for rehabilitating an old failed pavement or (minimum 2 inches) for new construction will be rolled to a table top smoothness.

5.	Capping Of The "Everlast" Bottom Lift Capping of the "Everlast" bottom lift is done with conventional dense-graded asphalt concrete or with gap-graded (superpave) asphalt concrete mix. The conventional asphalt concrete mix must have a -200 content of no more than 5.0 percent and must be compacted to 93 percent of theoretical maximum density. The resultant "Everlast" pavement will be as smooth as a table top thanks to the "Everlast" bottom lift. Due to the high asphalt film thickness of 20 to 23 microns around the particles of the "Everlast" bottom mix and the porous surface of it, a tenacious bond is formed. This bond is highly unlikely to ever break. As a result, no debonding of the "Everlast" bottom lift and conventional cap will take place.

Characteristic Performance Of The "Everlast" Pavement

1.	Reflective Cracking And Potholing It has been observed that reflective cracking, potholing and other problems have been drastically mitigated or completely eliminated after 20 years in service.

2.	Delamination Of Successive Lifts This has also not ocurred after a service life of 20 years. As a result, no potholes due to lift delamination have been observed after 20 years in service.

3.	Longitudinal Cracking Of Cold Joint Cracking of the longitudinal (cold) joint has not been observed in any of the "Everlast" pavements. The total number of "Everlast" pavements in service are about forty (40). When a construction joint cracks, it becomes wider and wider resulting in potholes along this joint as in conventional construction. This problem is totally eliminated with "Everlast" pavements.

4.	Rutting Of The "Everlast" Pavements All of the "Everlast" pavements constructed in the last 20 years have not rutted. Some carry exceedingly heavy loads such as large gravel trucks, concrete mixing trucks as well as large transport trucks. The number of these per day is in the hundreds. It has been observed that even in intersections where the trucks come to a stop, no rutting has been observed. The "Everlast" pavements will totally mitigate rutting and washboarding.

5.	Effect Of Freezing And Thawing When moisture enters the open-graded structure of the "Everlast" bottom lift, it will expand into the open and inter-connected voids upon freezing. As a result, there is no internal stress on the pavement that could result in cracking. It has also been observed that thermal cracking (transverse cracks) have also been drastically mitigated over conventional pavements.

With the development of the "Everlast" pavement we have found the holy grail of asphalt paving technology. No future paving system will equal or supercede the "Everlast" pavement system.

It has been a long journey since Professor E.J. DeSmedt, a Belgian chemist, constructed the first ever asphalt pavement in Newark, New Jersey in 1870. Since then, great progress has been made to produce better and better asphalt concrete paving mix. Today we have sophisticated and highly computerized mixing plants, complex and high-production paving machines and rollers, and page after page of specifications. However, what we do not have is maintenance-free pavements to go along with today's technology. Along this journey we have had a few thinkers. But mostly it was the blind leading the blind. Along the way, we have come upon many forests but we did not see them because we were too busy counting the trees.

I, Peter Sontowski, stand before the gates to the holy grail of asphalt paving technology. Follow me and you will have "Everlasting Pavements". "Let me open the gates for you!"