Research

Washington Ave. in Las Vegas, Neveda was distresses such that reconstruction was needed. The existing pavement consisted of 4.5 to 7 inches of asphalt pavement over 13.5 to 18.5 inches of granular base. The conventional design would have consisted of removal of the asphalt and base material and replacement with 18 inches of granular base and 6 inches of asphalt. An alternative method was selected using base stabilization with emulsified asphalt. The alternate design consisted of removal of the asphalt pavement and in-place stabilization with 5% emulsified asphalt of the upper 6 inches of the existing base followed by 5 inches of new asphalt. The alternate design saved the city an estimated $323,000, a 30% savings. Construction days were reduced from an estimated 120 days to 40 days and 3,000 fewer loads of materials were trucked on and off the project.

Paper No. 08-2343.TRB 87th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, January 2008.