NEW BRAUNFELS Road construction contractors who have been a fixture on Walnut Avenue here for more than three years are due to leave by January but don't think the city's largest-ever capital improvement project will finally be done.

Texas Sterling Construction, which originally was slated to complete its part the $28.5 million job last June, will return when the weather warms to finish paving the newly-widened 1.5-mile stretch of the major traffic artery reaching north from Interstate 35.

The project's end can't come soon enough for motorists weary of delays and for nearby merchants who say its maze of detours and barricades drove off customers.

The barricades will be gone and all four lanes of the road should open to traffic Saturday, although it will be a bumpy ride until the final paving is done, said Octavio Garza, project supervisor for the city. Installing that last layer of asphalt, if done all at once, should take two weeks, he said.

Everybody is really frustrated with it taking forever, it seems like, to complete the project; the city, the contractor and the citizens, Garza said last week.

Texas Sterling has been docked $1,600 a day by the city in liquidated damages on its $15.5 million road construction contract since missing its initial deadline for substantial completion on April 3, Garza said. Company officials declined comment.

The hassles and hardhats have become an everyday reality in the dust-laden construction zone since the barricades first went up in September 2010.

It's been here so long that people don't even talk about it any more, said Larry Wenzel of Creative Eyewear, which lost an entrance driveway as part of the road's redesign.

Debbie Clark, owner of The Loft Salon next door, has taken to stalking Texas Sterling crews with her camera if she sees something fishy, like the day she says five workers were pushing each other up and down a closed road section in a rolling office chair.

I'll be so glad when we actually have the road open, said Clark, whose business opened six months before the crews arrived. Our clients will know where to turn in and we won't have all the dust.

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End in sight for New Braunfels' 3-year road project

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 22, 2013

The Road and Highway Services industry ran into some obstacles during the five years to 2013. Industry players are usually hired to provide specialist construction services, such as highway paving, installing guardrails and street signage, and line marking for highway, street construction and maintenance projects. During the recession, local and state government spending on roads and highways (the primary source of industry demand) declined. However, the federal government was able to stabilize spending through stimulus and other infrastructure funding bills, allowing demand for industry services to remain stable. Yet, stimulus money eventually ran out, and demand for industry services began to decline. Therefore, in the five years to 2013, revenue for the Road and Highway Services industry is expected to decline at an annualized 1.2% to $26.2 billion, with a 0.3% drop in 2013 due to inadequate public-sector spending.

According to IBISWorld Industry Analyst Maksim Soshkin, The recession caused incomes to fall and the housing market to collapse. Consequently, governments collected less income and spent more on welfare. Furthermore, budget deficits climbed, with local and state governments forced by law to try to reduce them. Therefore, local and state government investment, which includes spending on industry services, has fallen every year since 2009. However, in 2009, Congress passed a stimulus bill and other infrastructure funding laws that temporarily allowed funding for industry projects to remain stable, resulting in industry revenue growth. Yet, this money eventually ran out and industry revenue began to fall. Simultaneously, demand from the private sector for services like driveway and parking lot paving also fell. As revenue declined and competition intensified, many companies began to lay off employees, and some had to exit the industry, says Soshkin.

The poor state of the nation's road network, combined with population growth and increased traffic, will drive investment into roads and highways, thereby increasing demand for industry services over the five years to 2018. In addition, as the economy improves, local and state governments will be able to spend more on industry projects. However, elevated unemployment, a slow housing recovery and Congressional budget debates will create uncertainty and tamper public-sector spending on industry services. Therefore, the private sector will be encouraged to fill the investment gap through public-private partnerships.

The industry has a low level of concentration. The larger scale contractors operate multiple establishments across several regional markets. A considerable number of large construction material producers have acquired specialized road and highway service companies to vertically integrate their business models, create new revenue streams and expand their geographic reach. These localized subsidiaries typically retain their name and local identity while benefiting from the resources of the larger national organization.

For more information, visit IBISWorlds Road & Highway Services industry in the US industry report page.

Follow IBISWorld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/IBISWorld. Friend IBISWorld on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBISWorld/121347533189.

IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

Establishments in the Road and Highway Services industry are primarily subcontracted to provide specialist construction services for highway and street construction and maintenance projects (i.e. new work, reconstruction, periodic maintenance or repairs). The industry mainly includes specialist contractors that carry out discrete phases within a total highway and street construction project, such as highway grading, installing guardrails, installing street signage and line marking.

Industry Performance Executive Summary Key External Drivers Current Performance Industry Outlook Industry Life Cycle Products & Markets Supply Chain Products & Services Major Markets Globalization & Trade Business Locations Competitive Landscape Market Share Concentration Key Success Factors Cost Structure Benchmarks Barriers to Entry Major Companies Operating Conditions Capital Intensity Key Statistics Industry Data Annual Change Key Ratios

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Road & Highway Services in the US in the US Industry Market Research Report from IBISWorld Has Been Updated

Bradley Asphalt Services Incorporated started to operate in the state of Colorado since 1988. It has been a renowned company competing against larger companies in the field. Like the other large companies in the market, Bradley made a name and reputation in delivering the best value and quality of service for its customers.

We do services ranging from small businesses and residential customers throughout our region. It has serviced accounts ranging from minor driveway resurfacing, to parking lot fabrication or replacement and street overlays.

Whether you need minor repairs, seal coating or major renovation, Bradley Asphalt Services a Denver asphalt company wants to be your pavement maintenance specialists. We at Bradley provide services that encompass the full spectrum of Colorado and Denver asphalt projects.

As maintenance specialist we plan every step we take to bring you value and satisfaction. We determine and define the scope and extent of your project from start to finish. A thorough site inspection permits us to become familiar with the specific conditions of the project, to prevent costly surprises as the job progresses.

We have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to ensure that the job is done right the first time and on schedule. Our year-round Denver asphalt operations allow us to provide you with results on YOUR schedule.

Crack Sealing:

Used to treat isolated random cracks in a pavement system. Cracks can be routed and cleaned with compressed air, then a hot rubberized asphalt material is placed into the void. Crack sealing prevents surface water from migrating through a pavement structure and into the sub-grade. The hot rubber will retain its elasticity during repeated freeze or thaw cycles.

Driveways:

The construction, replacement, and resurfacing of driveways was the original niche of Asphalt Services. We has grown tremendously, however we still retain the commitment to providing the highest quality driveways in the market.

Marking:

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Denver Asphalt Co - Bradley Asphalt Colorado Services | A+ By ...

CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -

Corpus Christi police are said to be on the trail of a makeshift paving company that may be responsible for badly injuring a pet cat this week.

3News reported Thursday that a pet owner believes his cat, Ricky, was intentionally sprayed with hot asphalt, resulting in severe burns. A company that was doing work on Jarvis Street, near Seaside Cemetery, was allegedly responsible.

Ricky was taken to a vet after the owner found him covered with in the hot asphalt. The neighbor, who was having the paving work done at her home, called the police to report that the company "didn't do a good job," but police told her it was a civil matter.

However, on Friday, police said the officer did not ask enough questions about the cat.

"There was confusion about the officer saying it was a civil matter. Certainly, abusing an animal, none of our police officers would ever tell somebody, 'hey, that's a civil matter,'" said Cmdr. Todd Green of the Corpus Christi Police Department. "What he was referring to was the poor work that was done on the driveway."

Green said they are searching for the Blacktop Paving Company based in Mesquite, Texas, to further investigate the animal cruelty charge.

"Based on what they saw out there, nobody that we know of -- and we actually had our officers go out there this afternoon and go door to door and see if anybody actually saw this happen -- but based on the physical evidence, it looks like yes, this cat was intentionally sprayed with asphalt," Green said.

At last check, Ricky the cat is still alive, but there is no word as to whether or not he will survive. Green said that if police can prove a case, the company can be charged with a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.

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Police Looking for Contractors Who Sprayed Cat with Hot Asphalt

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CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -

A local pet owner said a paving crew contracted by his neighbor intentionally sprayed his cat with hot asphalt on Wednesday, and now he is looking for those responsible.

The cat, named Ricky, is now being treated by a local veterinarian.

"I didn't even recognize him," cat owner Pat Jock said. "I was just lost for words, which isn't normal for me, because I usually speak."

It happened on the 4700 block of Jarvis. You can still see where the spraying occurred, along with the cat's footprints going down the sidewalk, up a driveway and onto a covered chair. By the time Jock found him, the cat was in distress.

"He couldn't move. He was stuck together, actually, from this stuff, he got saturated so bad," Jock said. "And he just curled up in a fetal position and I finally got him to the vet."

At the Doddridge Animal Clinic, Ricky had to be shaved, revealing burns caused by the boiling hot asphalt.

"It's hard to tell because it doesn't want to eat," veterinary technician Santos Rodriguez said. "It doesn't want to eat and doesn't want to drink any water, so we just have to wait and see what he does. I'm sure he feels bad."

The neighbor, Linda Emmord, is trying to track down the people responsible for the cruelty. She said she had hired two men who said they worked for Blacktop Paving out of Mesquite, Texas.

"Every number I've tried to get ahold of them with is to no avail, because I guess they don't want to be found," Emmord said.

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Pet Cat Recovering After Being Sprayed with Hot Asphalt

"Bitumen" redirects here. For naturally occurring bituminous sands used for petroleum production, see Oil sands. Note: The terms bitumen and asphalt are mostly interchangeable, except where asphalt is used as an abbreviation for asphalt concrete. This article uses "asphalt/bitumen" where either term is acceptable.

Asphalt US i// or UK //,[1][2] also known as bitumen / /,[3][4] is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product; it is a substance classed as a pitch. Until the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used.[5]

The primary use of asphalt/bitumen is in road construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete. Its other main uses are for bituminous waterproofing products, including production of roofing felt and for sealing flat roofs.

The terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance. In American English, asphalt (or asphalt cement) is the carefully refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils. Outside the United States, the product is often called bitumen. Geological terminology often prefers the term bitumen. Common usage often refers to various forms of asphalt/bitumen as "tar", such as at the La Brea Tar Pits. Another term, mostly archaic, refers to asphalt/bitumen as "pitch". The pitch used in this mixture is sometimes found in natural deposits but usually made by the distillation of crude oil.

Naturally occurring asphalt/bitumen is sometimes specified by the term "crude bitumen". Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses[6][7] while the material obtained from the fractional distillation of crude oil [boiling at 525C (977F)] is sometimes referred to as "refined bitumen".

The word asphalt is derived from the late Middle English, in turn from French asphalte, based on Late Latin asphalton, asphaltum, which is the latinisation of the Greek (sphaltos, sphalton), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/pitch",[8] which perhaps derives from - "without" and , (sfall), "make fall".[9] Note that in French, the term asphalte is used for naturally occurring bitumen-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads. It is a significant fact that the first use of asphalt by the ancients was in the nature of a cement for securing or joining together various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. Specifically Herodotus mentioned that bitumen was brought to Babylon to build its gigantic fortification wall.[10] From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French (asphalte) and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt").

The expression "bitumen" originated in the Sanskrit, where we find the words jatu, meaning "pitch," and jatu-krit, meaning "pitch creating", "pitch producing" (referring to coniferous or resinous trees). The Latin equivalent is claimed by some to be originally gwitu-men (pertaining to pitch), and by others, pixtumens (exuding or bubbling pitch), which was subsequently shortened to bitumen, thence passing via French into English. From the same root is derived the Anglo Saxon word cwidu (mastix), the German word Kitt (cement or mastic) and the old Norse word kvada.[11]

Neither of the terms asphalt or bitumen should be confused with tar or coal tars.

In British English, the word 'asphalt' is used to refer to a mixture of mineral aggregate and asphalt/bitumen (also called tarmac in common parlance). The earlier word 'asphaltum' is now archaic and not commonly used. In American English, 'asphalt' is equivalent to the British 'bitumen'. However, 'asphalt' is also commonly used as a shortened form of 'asphalt concrete' (therefore equivalent to the British 'asphalt' or 'tarmac'). In Australian English, bitumen is often used as the generic term for road surfaces. In Canadian English, the word bitumen is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil,[12] while asphalt is used for the oil refinery product used to pave roads and manufacture roof shingles and various waterproofing products. Diluted bitumen (diluted with naphtha to make it flow in pipelines) is known as dilbit in the Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen "upgraded" to synthetic crude oil is known as syncrude and syncrude blended with bitumen as synbit.[13] Bitumen is still the preferred geological term for naturally occurring deposits of the solid or semi-solid form of petroleum. Bituminous rock is a form of sandstone impregnated with bitumen. The tar sands of Alberta, Canada are a similar material.

The substance is completely soluble in carbon disulfide, and composed primarily of a mixture of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; it is most commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase (though there is some disagreement amongst chemists regarding its structure). One writer stated although a "considerable amount of work has been done on the composition of asphalt, it is exceedingly difficult to separate individual hydrocarbon in pure form",[14] and "it is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large".[15]

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Asphalt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asphalt concrete is a composite material commonly used in construction projects such as road surfaces, parking lots, and airports. Asphalt concrete consists of asphalt (used as a binder) mixed with mineral aggregate and then laid down in layers and compacted. Asphalt concrete was refined and enhanced to its current state by Belgian inventor and U.S. immigrant Edward de Smedt.[2] It is increasingly being used as the core of embankment dams.[3]

It is commonly called simply asphalt,[4]blacktop, or paving (particularly in North America). The terms "asphalt (or asphaltic) concrete", "bituminous asphalt concrete", and "bituminous mixture" are typically used only in engineering and construction documents and literature. The abbreviation "AC" is sometimes used for "asphalt concrete" but can also denote "asphalt content" or "asphalt cement", referring to the liquid asphalt portion of a bituminous mixture.

Asphalt concrete pavements are often called just "asphalt" by laypersons who tend to associate the term "concrete" with Portland cement concrete only. The engineering definition of concrete is any composite material composed of mineral aggregate glued together with a binder, whether that binder is Portland cement, asphalt or even epoxy.

Mixing of asphalt and aggregate is accomplished in one of several ways:

Asphalt concrete pavementsespecially those at airfieldsare sometimes called tarmac for historical reasons, although they do not contain tar and are not constructed using the macadam process.

A variety of specialty asphalt concrete mixtures have been developed to meet specific needs, such as stone-matrix asphalt, which is designed to ensure a very strong wearing surface, or porous asphalt pavements, which are permeable and allow water to drain through the pavement for controlling stormwater.

Asphalt concrete has different performance characteristics in terms of surface durability, tire wear, braking efficiency and roadway noise. The appropriate asphalt performance characteristic is obtained by the traffic level amount in categories A,B,C,D,E, and friction coarse (FC-5). Asphalt concrete generates less roadway noise than Portland cement concrete surfacing, and is typically less noisy than chip seal surfaces.[6][7]

Tire noise effects are amplified at higher operating speeds. Noise is generated through the conversion of kinetic energy to sound waves. The idea that highway design could be influenced by acoustical engineering considerations including selection of surface paving types arose in the early 1970s.[8][9]

Asphalt deterioration can include crocodile cracking, potholes, upheaval, raveling, bleeding, rutting, shoving, stripping, and grade depressions. In cold climates, freezing of the groundwater underneath can crack asphalt even in one winter (by frost heaving). Filling the cracks with bitumen can temporarily fix the cracks, but only proper construction, i.e. compaction and drainage, can slow this process.

Factors that cause asphalt concrete to deteriorate over time mostly fall into one of three categories: construction quality, environmental factors and traffic loads. Often, damage results from combinations of factors in all three categories.

Read this article:
Asphalt concrete - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Research Finds Unintended Consequences of Reflective Pavements

Addressing the urban heat island effect (UHI) is a growing concern for many municipalities, but a new report from Arizona State University (ASU), "Unintended Consequences: A Research Synthesis Examining the Use of Reflective Pavements to Mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect," calls into question many common assumptions about the ability of reflective pavements to mitigate UHI.

Reflective surfaces redirect solar energy and for this reason high-albedo, reflective, or "cool" roofs have been suggested as an important tool for UHI mitigation. However, efforts to apply the same principle to pavements overlook the complexities of urban geography and how ground-level reflections interact with pedestrians, vehicles, and the built environment.

"We cannot assume that reflective pavements will behave the same as reflective roofs. When energy is reflected from a ground surface, it doesn't return directly to the sky. It reflects back at buildings and pedestrians. Heat concentration in urban areas is a multifaceted problem; it requires a solution that looks at more than just one mitigation strategy," said Heather Dylla, Ph.D., Director of Sustainable Engineering for the National Asphalt Association (NAPA).

A copy of the report can be downloaded from the ASU National Center for SMART Innovations website at http://ncesmart.asu.edu/news/unintended-consequences.

The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) today (Sept. 11, 2013) presented Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) with the Asphalt Legislator of the Year Award for her bipartisan leadership in crafting the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).

Link:
National Asphalt Pavement Association

Monday, 23 August 2010 17:28 Last Updated on Thursday, 17 March 2011 16:40 Written by Administrator

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Paving slabs are larger paving stones which are used to cover larger areas and are generally more durable. Anything smaller than a paving slab is a paving stone.

We have a fantastic range of paving slabs and paving stones in both natural stone and concrete mixes.

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Paving and Gravel - UK's leading online supplier of Paving and ...