Starke County Highway Department crews will be working with a new product to include with the cold asphalt mix.
Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler explained to the county commissioners Monday night that they have been chosen by a vendor to use an additive to the cold mix asphalt that could help it cure quicker and provide a product that would last longer. Ritzler said the vendor has adapted a hot mix version of this additive to work with cold mix.
“They’re wrapped in plastic and as you’re making it in hot mix the plastic coating comes off and there’s 800 strands on there,” explained Ritzler. “That’s the same material that they use in Kevlar. They’ve used this for a long time in hot mix asphalt as it helps bind it. They’ve never used it much in cold mix asphalt because the cold mix when it’s mixed only gets to about 160 degrees. It’s not hot enough to melt the plastic. They now have a version that has paper around it and they feel that it’ll work. They haven’t tried it yet. They’re going to provide it to us for free and we’ll use it. Hey, if it works…great!”
Ritzler said the county received enough of this additive to do a mile of cold mix paving. He will give a report on how it works at a future meeting.
