Municipal Implementation of Superpave Technology

The reconstruction of 30 km of County Road 2 by the county of Frontenac in 1996 provided the opportunity for municipal implementation of Superpave performance graded asphalt binder and volumetric mix design technology. The Superpave surface course asphalt mix was placed over a cold in-place recycled binder course pavement. Placement and compaction procedures were similar to those for conventional asphalt mixes, with the application of a light soap solution to avoid pickup associated with the polymer-modified performance graded asphalt cement on compaction equipment. The Superpave mix properties for trial batches were verified with a Superpave gyratory compactor. Basic mechanistic properties (resilient modulus, resistance to permanent deformation, and resistance to fatigue) of the Superpave surface course mix were determined with the Nottingham asphalt tester. Three long-term performance monitoring test sections were established at representative locations on County Road 2. The test section performance monitoring included visual distress surveys, structural capacity testing with the falling weight deflectometer, and transverse profiles with the digital incremental profiler (Dipstick). Monitoring of the County Road 2 Superpave pavement indicates that, after almost 3 years of service, the pavement has no significant surface distresses and is in excellent overall condition.