Since joining Blacklidge last year, I’ve received a crash course on the asphalt industry and have a newfound appreciation for the work we do every day. The current pandemic shows us how essential infrastructure is for our society. Roads must be built and then maintained to keep the economy moving, enabling drivers to reach their destinations safely.

At Blacklidge, we not only take pride in the high-performing asphalt products we manufacture but also the impact they make. That’s why we’re taking this opportunity to share what’s happening On The Road. 

The Role of Bond Strength in Road Performance

In the first installment of our On The Road webinar series, our Technical Director, Grover Allen, Ph.D., P.E. was joined by Dave Johnson, P.E. of the Asphalt Institute to discuss the importance of bond strength. The presentation stressed the importance of proper tack coat application to enhance interlayer bonding, how to measure bond strength and the consequences of poor bonding — including premature pavement fatigue, a shortened life cycle and tracking. If you missed the webinar, you can watch a replay here.

UltraFuse® in Florida and Alabama

The strong bonding characteristics of UltraFuse, combined with its extremely fast non-tracking capabilities, made it the optimal choice for road construction contractors in Florida and Alabama. In Bradford County, Florida Preferred Materials, Inc. used UltraFuse to pave a section of State Road 100 in partnership with the Florida D.O.T. (pictured here).

In Brewton, Alabama UltraFuse was applied to a section of Interstate 65, where it was dry to the touch in under 30 seconds. Watch this video to see the results.

ReCharge™ in Florida and Mississippi

Municipalities in Florida and Mississippi became early adopters of our newest age-regenerating product with great results. ReCharge is an advanced cold mix recycling additive for RAP, making it a cost-effective alternative to unpaved roads. On Gulf Point Road in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida (pictured here) ReCharge provided a pavement surface that appears to be a hot mix asphalt surface course at a fraction of the cost of a standard overlay. For this small beach town, the savings were significant.

When the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi needed a way to simplify their patch repair with RAP, they looked to ReCharge. According to their City Engineer, ReCharge allowed them to drastically reduce production time. With a 30-minute batch time, Ridgeland is now able to fix more potholes than ever before.  

UltraTack® in Florida

A large shipment of The Original Trackless Tack® was successfully delivered to Duval Asphalt in Jacksonville, ready to be used in their paving projects.

I look forward to continuing to see the impact of the service that we provide our country’s roads and I hope others now realize how essential building, maintaining and repairing those roads really are.