Coca Cola Plant Asphalt Repair, Payette County ID

What was failing, and why

The asphalt was sinking, and it was getting worse under the large trucks moving through the site.

Sinking is the tell. It means the problem is under the asphalt rather than in it. Loaded trucks concentrate more weight on a smaller area than any passenger vehicle, and where the base beneath the surface has lost its structure, the surface goes down with it. Sealing that area accomplishes nothing. Patching over it buys a season at most, because the new asphalt sits on the same failed base.

What we did, in order

Saw cut and removed the failed asphalt.

Cutting a clean edge rather than breaking one out gives the new mat something square to bond against.

Brought in 3/4 inch crushed road mix.

The base is what carries the truck load. Rebuilding it is the whole point of the job.

Applied water while compacting.

Crushed aggregate compacts to a far higher density damp than dry. Skipping the water is how a base that looks finished settles a year later.

Applied tack oil to the edges.

It bonds the new asphalt to the existing pavement. Without it the joint becomes the first thing to fail.

Paved three inches of asphalt.

Proper depth to handle commercial loads.

Crack filled along the existing edge.

Sealing the seam between old and new before water can get into it.

Working around an operating facility

A bottling plant runs to a delivery schedule. Pavement work has to fit around it, which means sectioning the work and knowing what can carry traffic when.