Polymer-Modified Asphalt Surface Sealer-(PASS) Chip Seal Project

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

In recent years the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works’ budget to fix roadways has been reduced. This has resulted in the deterioration of County roadways and more complaints from the public. In 2008, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works was allocated Proposition 1B funds from the State of California for the preservation and rehabilitation of roadways. About $1.2 million of these funds went towards preserving roadways in Maintenance District 5, which maintains about 1,400 centerline miles of paved roads in the Antelope Valley. With so many County roadways in need of repair and only $1.2 million available, it was necessary to find innovative solutions to repair as many roadways as possible. They evaluated various pavement treatments. One treatment involved the use of a Polymer-modified Asphalt Surface Sealer emulsion chip seal. They experimented with this treatment on localized sections of pavement that had shown pattern cracking, but had not failed. The PASS emulsion had very good chip rock retention, was found to be very effective in rejuvenating the underlying pavement, and effectively sealed the pavement cracks.