VIDEO: Lancaster’s Re-HEAT Pavement Preservation Project is first in California

LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council Tuesday (Aug. 14) approved a contract with Illinois-based company Gallagher Asphalt for an innovative road re-surfacing process.

The process, termed Re-HEAT (Recycled Hot Emulsified Asphalt Treatment), will allow the City to save hundreds of thousands of dollars, repair roads more quickly, and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of numerous roadway projects, city officials said.

While still relatively new, the Re-HEAT process has been successfully implemented in several other states. Lancaster’s Re-HEAT project is the first in California.

The decision to test the Re-HEAT process came about as City staff, recognizing the need to stretch roadway funding, researched innovative approaches to pavement preservation.

“Under current economic conditions, exacerbated by the state taking funds from cities, our engineering and maintenance staff set out to reevaluate our programs and procedures for roadway maintenance throughout the City,” said Public Works Director, Robert Neal. “We believe the Re-HEAT process is an excellent way to get the absolute best value for every construction and maintenance dollar we spend.”

In contrast to traditional “surface rehabilitation,” which typically consists of removing the top two inches of a street surface and replacing it with new asphalt, the Re-HEAT process actually recycles existing asphalt. During the process, the existing asphalt is heated, ground up, and transferred into a mixing drum on the Re-HEAT machine where it is then uniformly mixed with engineered rejuvenating emulsion before being replaced as a new surface course. The rejuvenated asphalt mixture is then immediately rolled and ready for traffic within minutes after being placed.

“One of the additional benefits of the Re-HEAT process is the decreased turn-around time, compared to a conventional mill and fill project,” said Ray Hunt, Capital Engineering Manager for the City. “With this kind of technology, residents can leave for work in the morning before we start the roadwork and come home to an entirely new street by that evening.”

At $9.00 to $11.00 per square yard, Re-HEAT is a viable alternative to conventional resurfacing methods, which typically cost $12.00 to $15.00 per square yard, thus allowing the City to stretch surface rehabilitation dollars by up to 25%. The City will use these savings to increase the amount of roadwork performed annually.

Compared to a conventional paving operation, the Re-HEAT process boasts a 65% reduction in its carbon footprint, while lessening the demand on rock quarries and landfills. The process is 100% sustainable, and typically extends the serviceable life of most roadways by 7 to 10 years.

“This process will allow us to improve our overall pavement condition throughout the City,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “The Re-HEAT project will make a noticeable difference in the state of our roadways, at a lower cost than traditional methods.”

As part of the Pavement Preservation Program, the project is designed to repair and resurface the following roads with a reconstituted (Re-HEAT) asphalt pavement surface::

• Avenue I, from Division Street to Challenger Way,
• Avenue J, from 10th Street West to 20th Street West,
• 15th Street West, from Lancaster Boulevard to Avenue J,
• Fern Avenue, from Avenue I to Lancaster Boulevard and
• The southerly Avenue I frontage road, from 15th Street West to 20th Street West.

Tuesday night (Aug. 14) the council voted 4-0 (with Ron Smith absent) to award Public Works Construction Project No. 12-009, Pavement Preservation Re-HEAT Asphalt Project, to Gallagher Asphalt of Thornton, IL, in the amount of $1,164,543.20 plus a 5% contingency.

For more information on the RE-HEAT process, visit www.cityoflancasterca.org/re-heat. View another video below of the the Re-HEAT Recycling Process by Gallagher Asphalt — in action.

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