{"id":2867,"date":"2024-12-28T04:26:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T04:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prairieprod.vcnastaging.com\/?p=2867"},"modified":"2024-12-28T04:28:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T04:28:11","slug":"under-the-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/under-the-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Under the Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local roads got so bad this winter that Chicago\u2019s\u00a0Second City<\/strong>\u00a0comedy troupe put out a mock commercial thanking\u00a0Mayor Rahm Emanuel<\/strong>\u00a0for keeping the auto repair shops humming.<\/p>\n

But drivers who suffered tire, rim and suspension damage weren\u2019t laughing. Nationwide, substandard road conditions cost drivers an estimated $80 billion in vehicle damage every year,\u00a0Bloomberg News<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

Cities are rushing to fix roads as spring arrives \u2013 even as their budgets slide into the red. \u201cWe\u2019re throwing everything we can at it,\u201d says\u00a0Lori Miser<\/strong>, director of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. By February Indy had already exceeded its winter road maintenance budget by $5 million.<\/p>\n

“Our roads are in bad condition,” Milwaukee Department of Public Works Commissioner\u00a0Ghassan Korban<\/strong>\u00a0admits, echoing Miser\u2019s concerns. In March the city hired 25 new full-time workers to tackle emergency repairs.<\/p>\n

Private property owners aren\u2019t immune, either \u2013 since parking lots and commercial lanes take the same beating as public roads. And with climate experts saying that extreme weather may be the new normal, it\u2019s clear we need a different approach.\u200b<\/p>\n

From maintenance to prevention<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prairi\u200b\u200be Material, along with leading paving contractors, is encouraging public and private decision-makers to consider concrete as part of the solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcrete is a cost-effective choice for states, municipalities and private owners who need to extend the life of paved surfaces,\u201d says Prairie President\u00a0Richard Olsen<\/strong>. \u201cGreater durability means we prevent damage rather than scrambling to keep up with constant repairs. The added dividends will be greater public safety, long-term cost savings and far less disruption for motorists and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting all the facts on the table<\/h2>\n

Accurate, complete comparisons reveal the long-term value of concrete, says Prairie Marketing Product Specialist\u00a0Theron Tobolski<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently we were called in to provide an alternate pavement design for a business owner who is building a new gas station where there will be heavy truck traffic,\u201d he says. \u201cFirst bids on the project showed that the concrete alternate would cost $190,000 more than asphalt, but we could see the asphalt wouldn\u2019t perform well under the anticipated truck loads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The owners asked Prairie Material to provide an asphalt design that was structurally comparable to the concrete design. Working with\u00a0Randall Riley, PE<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0American Concrete Paving Association<\/strong>\u00a0(ACPA<\/a>), they rendered designs with equal structural integrity that would carry the same loads with the same profile depth. With structural integrity being equal, the cost difference between asphalt and concrete then dropped to $25,000 \u2013 a relatively small number given the superior longevity of concrete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project’s still in the planning stages and anything can happen, but based on the owner’s positive response to our life-cycle cost analysis, we’re confident they’ll choose concrete,\u201d Tobolski says.<\/p>\n

Roads that last<\/h2>\n

Municipalities looking to prevent potholes are harnessing the strength of\u00a0roller-compacted concrete<\/a>\u00a0(RCC) for road rebuilding. The Village of Streamwood, Illinois started its RCC program in 2008, Tobolski reports, adding that Des Plaines and Franklin Park have recently approved RCC as an alternate paving choice.<\/p>\n

Whitetopping<\/a>\u200b and full-depth concrete paving are gaining ground as asphalt costs continue their upward trend. \u201cUltra-thin whitetopping has a proven track record in our market and can provide 20 years of service,\u201d Randall Riley notes. \u201cConventional whitetopping pavements of 4 inches or more have a proven service life of 40 years in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redi-Pave\u2122<\/a>, our high-early-strength mix, is ideal for full-depth repairs to bridges, toll plazas, city streets and commercial lanes that must reopen to traffic in 1-3 days.<\/p>\n

Tools to compare costs, benefits<\/h2>\n

Whatever size or type of paving job you\u2019re looking at, the key is knowing how to do a sound life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). ACPA and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA<\/a>) offer a full range of tools for your use.<\/p>\n

ACPA\u2019s robust\u00a0StreetPave<\/a>\u00a0software helps you compare life-cycle costs of concrete and asphalt under a variety of roadway conditions and needs. The NRMCA\u2019s\u00a0Concrete Pavement Analyst<\/a>\u00a0(CPA) software, designed for parking lot applications, uses ACI and Asphalt Institute recommendations to compare total ownership costs.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s lead together<\/h2>\n

\u200bPrairie\u2019s sales and technical teams welcome your questions about all forms of concrete paving. We can help you create sound LCCA comparisons and respond to questions from government and private decision-makers.<\/p>\n

Contact<\/a>\u00a0us for expert support on your next paving project.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local roads got so bad this winter that Chicago\u2019s\u00a0Second City\u00a0comedy troupe put out a mock commercial thanking\u00a0Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u00a0for keeping the auto repair shops humming. But drivers who suffered tire, rim and suspension damage weren\u2019t laughing. Nationwide, substandard road conditions cost drivers an estimated $80 billion in vehicle damage every year,\u00a0Bloomberg News\u00a0reports. Cities are rushing […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}