Continuous Road Resurfacer?

[legion]

They have I-74 torn up for 30+ miles between Bloomington and Peoria. With the way the state of Illinois does road work, I expect it to be done sometime in 2020.

I got to thinking, does anyone make a continuous road resurfacer? I'm thinking like a series of machines that can be trucked in and hooked up. The first one grinds up the road surface, the second one picks up the debris and grinds it up further, the third one heats up the ground up debris and injects tar, the fourth one lays down the newly rejuvenated road surface, and on the end is a steam roller the width of the road surface laid down. Seems like several miles could be done in a day this way rather that over months/years.

[craigster59]

I’ll be the first one to nominate Prius’s to be the ground up debris.

[LakeCleElum]

My memories when passing thru.........

[Norm K]

Google "Bomag".

_

[drkshdw]

[Bill Douglas]

Discriminating.

Discriminating against the guys who lean on a shovel all day. The union wouldn't allow it.

"Hello Head Office, this is Road Works Gang - We've run out of shovels."

"Hello Road Works Gang. Tell the guys to lean against eachother."

[serene911]

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by legion

They have I-74 torn up for 30+ miles between Bloomington and Peoria. With the way the state of Illinois does road work, I expect it to be done sometime in 2020.

I got to thinking, does anyone make a continuous road resurfacer? I'm thinking like a series of machines that can be trucked in and hooked up. The first one grinds up the road surface, the second one picks up the debris and grinds it up further, the third one heats up the ground up debris and injects tar, the fourth one lays down the newly rejuvenated road surface, and on the end is a steam roller the width of the road surface laid down. Seems like several miles could be done in a day this way rather that over months/years.

The issue is...usually the road surface is the least of the issues. The road surface is the easiest to fix. The road bed, especially the drainage is the problem.

[widgeon13]

I don't think the surface lasts very long!

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The issue is...usually the road surface is the least of the issues. The road surface is the easiest to fix. The road bed, especially the drainage is the problem.

We made a 90 mile road trip to Enid, OK last weekend. Part of the road around Kingfisher, OK on highway 3 has been prone to flooding since it was built long long ago. They are raising the bed of the road several feet. To remove the old concrete, they have a neat toy, well it would be neat for 10 minutes then it would suck. Anyway, it was a large truck with vertical pile driver like hammers, likely 20 or more hammers, just pummeling the road. It was breaking up the concrete and a large front end loader was behind it scooping up the debris. About a mile ahead we came to the section where they were grinding up the old asphalt road surface. It was a 10 mile stretch at 25 MPH.

Kingfisher has had real issues with road flooding for along time. In a flooding event, there are few other options to get in or out of town without that highway.

[RKDinOKC]

With all of the standards, etc. that are supposed to make the road better and smooth, that make it take so long to re-do, the road doesn't seem any smoother after they finish anyway.

[Mike Andrew]

Chris;
Somehow the length of road projects here must be Rauner's fault. I'll bet JB could have it done in a week.
Hopefully, with the newer method of laying asphalt and concrete on top of that, the roads will last longer than previously. I 90 seems to be holding up well but it did take 3 years to get done.

[Jeff Higgins]

I went on a motorcycle road trip around our Olympic Peninsula with three buddies just two weeks ago. We hit a paving project around Crescent Lake that was being done the traditional way. When we went up Hurricane Ridge, however, we ran across another paving project, and they were using just such a machine. It lifted off and ground up the old asphalt on its leading end, dumping it all into a big hopper. On the trailing end, it mixed the ground asphalt with new tar and laid it down. Couple of steamrollers following it and, ta da - new road. Pretty cool.

[GH85Carrera]

I have lived in the OKC metro area for 40 years. In all that time there has been construction on I-35 south of OKC down to Norman, OK. My theory is there just two brothers, doing the work. They take off and do other projects and keep coming back to the I-35 project. After 40 years they have added several lanes to most of the interstate, and several new overpasses. It is admittedly much improved, but dang 40 years and they are still building.

And in the 40 years I have made just one round trip up to Tulsa (about 95 miles) and NOT had construction. It is the construction company annuity fund.

[p911dad]

These machines have been around for a while. The one major issue with the new surface is it can be too smooth, because the original aggregate has been ground up. So sometimes new aggregate (the little sharp stones in the mix) is added to make the surface meet the required standards for the surface friction it can provide on rainy days (no slippery when wet signs).

[legion]

Bob: Thanks for the contribution!

p911dad: I don't see an issue with adding in some sharper aggregate to the mix.

redbeard: They don't seem to be doing anything with the road bed. They are grinding it down a few inches and repaving, just taking a really long time to do it.

Mike: It's been this way my whole 28 years in Illinois. I love it when they put down the cones 2 weeks - 1 month before any work starts, at a minimum of 2 miles before the work zone. In Georgia, they seemed to figure out how to put out cones the day work start and pick them up the day it ends.

[GH85Carrera]

I am convinced that many states do not have a storage facility for cones. They put them out and just store them on the side of the road in a "construction" zone and reduce the speed limit. That way they can write expensive tickets for speeding in a construction zone, even though there is not one piece of operational equipment or a single worker anywhere. Just a great place to put cones.

[JJ 911SC]

That was the best one... Gray & Houseman Road Construction Vehicle | Thunderbirds Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

[jrdavid68]

Bessie

[Geoz1]

Originally Posted by Mike Andrew

Chris;
Somehow the length of road projects here must be Rauner's fault. I'll bet JB could have it done in a week.
Hopefully, with the newer method of laying asphalt and concrete on top of that, the roads will last longer than previously. I 90 seems to be holding up well but it did take 3 years to get done.

I agree.

Notice how the radar vans have vanished from constriction zones? Why are the highways leaving our state, smooth? LMAO. It's also smooth, going home.

Our politicians did this to us.