Street Treatments
Slurry Seal | Crack Seal | Hot-in-Place Recycling | Hot Applied Chip Overlay | Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay
Slurry Seal
Slurry seal is a surface treatment designed to extend the life of existing pavements by filling surface cracks and voids, sealing weather tight, and adding texture and uniform appearance to the street. In general, asphalt patching and concrete repairs will occur the year before the slurry seal is to be applied. After these repairs are completed crack sealing is then typically performed that fall or the following spring. The final step is to slurry seal the street during the summer.
Benefits of Slurry Seal:
- Extends the useful life of the pavement by keeping air/water out and stopping oxidation
- Does not require milling or resetting of utilities
- Improves safety by providing a high skid resistance surface
- Restores uniform black color
- Cost effective treatment that will stretch maintenance dollars
Slurry Seal has a life expectancy of approximately 6-8 years.
Crack Seal
Cracks can form in asphalt or concrete pavements through various modes of distress. Regardless of how the cracks form, they must be repaired to help protect the pavement structure. If the cracks are not maintained, they can ravel and increase in size. Unsealed cracks allow water to penetrate into the structure from the pavement surface, which eventually causes potholes and further deterioration. Water intrusion is the number one enemy of pavements. Crack sealing is the single most important and cost effective maintenance option used to help protect the pavement structure. It is often placed in advance of overlays and surface treatments to improve performance.
Benefits of Crack Seal:
- Prevents sand, stones and dirt from entering into open cracks
- Prevents water from entering and weakening the sub base and pavement
- Prevents or delays pothole formation
- Reduces pavement damage from the freeze-thaw cycle
Crack Seal has a life expectancy of approximately 3-5 years.
Hot-In-Place Recycling
Hot-in-place (HIP) recycling is a single pass repaving process that has become a key component in road maintenance. HIP uses specially designed equipment in a simultaneous, multi-step process that removes some of the existing asphalt, recycles it with a rejuvenating agent and then puts it back on the surface along with an additional inch of new Hot Mix Asphalt.
Benefits of Hot-In-Place Recycling:
- Improves the smoothness, durability, and appearance of the street with like-new results
- Minimizes traffic delays because of its single pass process
- Uses less energy and emits fewer greenhouse gases than other repaving methods. As a result, hot-in-place recycling supports sustainability goals within the City of Fort Collins.
HIP recycling has a life expectancy of approximately 8-10 years.
Hot Applied Chip Overlay
Hot Applied Chip Overlay (HACO) is a two-step surface treatment that combines a Chip Seal and a thin overlay of open graded friction course. This double application of material provides a waterproof membrane and a strong wearing surface that will improve the profile of the existing asphalt.
Benefits of Hot Applied Chip Overlay:
- Improves skid-resistance and safety with a high friction surface
- Provides asphalt pavement additional structural strength
- Quiet surface treatment especially on high volume traffic roads
- Enhances the appearance of the road by improving the surface texture, profile and surface color
HACO has a life expectancy of approximately 8-10 years.
Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay
An asphalt overlay is the application of the top layer of asphault onto the existing pavement surface. Hot mix asphalt (HMA) is mixed, placed and compacted at elevated temperatures, hence the name. HMA material is a precisely engineered product composed of about 95 percent stone, sand, and gravel by weight, and about 5 percent asphalt cement, a petroleum product. Asphalt cement acts as the glue to hold the pavement together.
Asphalt is America’s most recycled material. In Fort Collins, most HMA contains approximately 20% recycled asphalt. Recycling is just one reason that asphalt is such a sustainable pavement.
Benefits of Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay:
- Less expensive than complete removal and replacement
- Adds structural strength to the existing surface
- Can improve drainage in streets
- Re-establishes proper grade
- Improves surface for smoother driving and better traction
HMA has a life expectancy of approximately 16-20 years depending on the volume of traffic.