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The state of our pavements have never
been in a worse state of disrepair then they are
today. The reasons for this are many. Among them
are lack of adequate funding. Poor understanding of
mix design criteria, lack of adequate understanding of
paving, pavement performance and generally, a lack of
technical understanding of what is important when designing
and constructing longer lasting asphalt concrete
pavements. In order to adequately repair existing
asphalt concrete pavements in North America would require
$79,428,528,000 annually. Lack of adequate repair of
potholes and cracks affects not only the physical and mental
well being of every man, woman and child, but also the
financial well being of the tax paying public. Damage
to brakes, steering and suspension can be extensive as many
of us have experienced. The North American motorist
incurs substantial annual costs associated with poor roads
above normal routine costs of operating a motor
vehicle. A trip report states that in Los Angeles, the
additional cost of operating a motor vehicle is $778.
The additional annual cost of operating a motor vehicle in
other American cities are somewhat less, but still
significant. Poor road conditions contribute
substantially to the number of fatalities annually. Pavements
showing various distresses such as cracking, potholes and
rutting, etc. also contribute significantly to an increase
in fuel consumption. A 1985 road information survey
concluded that the additional fuel consumption due to failed
pavments amounted to $21.3 billion US dollars
annually. The average price of gasoline at the time
across the United States was $1.15 per gallon. That
means the amount of fuel wasted was 18.52 billion
gallons. We can safely say that the amount of gasoline
wasted today due to failed pavements is significantly
higher. Today, we not only have more failed pavements
than ever before, we also have many more cars on the
road. Failed pavements are those which show extensive
cracking such as transverse, longitudinal and alligator
cracking, potholing, rutting and raveling. The "Everlast
Pavement System" as designed and developed by EPM
Asphaltec Inc. would substantially mitigate failures from
occurring. The result would be:
1) drastically reduced maintenance costs,
2) drastically reduced fuel waste,
3) reduced additional maintenance of motor vehicles,
and
4) safer roads resulting in fewer fatalities and hence, less
litigation.
In summary, the "Everlast Pavements" have the
following advantages over any conventional pavements: |
