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Potholes, every motorists nightmare. Year after year, these concrete craters become
a greater drain on state and local roadway repair budgets and local drivers paying for
vehicle repairs. Today the Genesee County Road Commission is piloting a project that
is making pothole patching safer, more economical and more conscious of the environment. This
new pilot program features the PelletPATCH, a high performance binder made from a unique
blend of premium quality asphalt cement, special additives, and crumbled rubber from recycled
tires. This unique patching blend had proven to outperform and outlast the old patching
products and can be applied in any weather, winter months included. Making the patching
process more effective and more efficient.
The Genesee County Road Commission has spent years researching new products and technologies
that could reduce operational costs, improve performance and remain environmentally sensitive.
The pothole patching pilot program is the first of it's kind in the country and is just
one example of how the Genesee Country Road Commission is finding ways to deliver better
road maintenance for local motorist's.
"We're in a latitude where we undergo a freeze/thaw cycle in the late fall and early spring that
just really puts a lot of stress on the roads. We're using alternative materials that we
haven't used before and the reason that we're using them is to get a longer life out of
that patch. The material that we're using is called PelletPATCH and its a hybrid binder
that's combined with crumblized rubber from where tires are ground up and you put that
in and you mix that with hot asphalt, it goes into the pothole at about 350 degrees fahrenheit
and the result of that is you get a much flexible patch than when you had previously. When we
go through these freeze/thaw cycles, that flexibility allows that patch to stay functional
a lot longer than what we've had before. The patching material, when we put it in an area
where its appropriate lasts between 30 and 40 percent longer and that's good because
that money that we can use in other areas to maintain to road system."
Today, an all time high number of cars and trucks on our roadways translates to all time
high road repair and maintenance costs. Now with this pothole patching pilot program,
drivers in Genesee County, Michigan can worry less about those roadway ruts and the vehicle
damage they cause. "We need the help of the public, we have almost 1,500 miles of road
that's under our jurisdiction. We only have about 120 people that are in the field, so
we can't keep track of the condition. If someone in the public takes the time to tell us about
a pothole, we'll send someone out immediately, take a look at it, get to work on it, but
as soon as we fix it, we're going to be sending a photo back of what we've done."
The Genesee County Road Commission is working hard to smooth over and reduce those irritating
potholes and improve local road conditions everyday.
Arrive on site.
Get equipment setup.
Toss pellets into the PelletPATCH Asphalt Patch Master to mix in with RAP.
PelletPATCH is a high performance binder to mix with RAP or aggregate.
Clean and prep the damaged area to be patched.
Make sure that your edges are clean and remove old asphalt and debris.
Preparation is one of the keys to success.
Hot mix of pellets and RAP is added the cleaned pothole.
Rake out the mix so there are no high spots.
At 300 degrees this mix is ready.
Using a VIBCO GR-1600 Roller Compactor to roll out the PelletPATCH without vibration
to give it a preliminary smoothing.
Flatten al the high spots.
Roll it smooth without vibration first.
Turn up the vibration, turn on the water and begin compaction.
1,600 pounds of force at 6,500 vibrations per minute.
Compaction to 8 inches deep.
The patch is now traffic ready and will outlast 'throw and go' ten to one.
Saverio Marra / Director of Sales for USA & Canada
smarra@pelletpatch.com PelletPATCH Distributors, LLC
62 Washington Ave. Dumont, New Jersey 07628
201-374-2500 / Office 201-387-6700 / Fax
201-204-1798 / Cell
www.pelletpatch.com