CHEMICAL STABILIZATION PERMITS UPGRADING COUNTY HIGHWAYS

This article describes a reclamation process used for bituminous surfaced roadways in Elkhart County, Indiana. First, the existing roadway was scarified to break down the pavement slab to smaller rubble. Then a water solution of SA-1, a chemical stabilizer, was applied. About 30 minutes later the bituminous rubble started to soften, crumble and separate. The material was pulverized to accelerate the breakdown process and windrowed to one side of the road to allow treatment of clay areas with CLAPAK-CLASET, clay subbase stabilizers. The windrowed material was kept pliable by applying water to it during this process. Finally, the windrowed material was bladed and spread uniformly over the stabilized clay base. The surface was then fine-graded, re-rolled, and compacted until the water had evaporated. A highly viscous bitumen was used to penetrate and prime the surface, which was then chip-sealed and left until the following year when it was again chip-sealed. There has been negligible maintenance done on the roadway since the resurfacing which was done in 1971-72. The process takes one to three days and costs are around 7,000 dollars for personnel, equipment, and chemicals.