Roller Compacted Concrete offers tremendous opportunity for our industry. It may be used in commercial, industrial or street and local road applications. Before it can be used in the latter market, industry must be sure that PennDot will accept it as a paving alternative. Golden Triangle Consruction has been working very hard toward that goal, and they’ve placed RCC at some of their plants for material storage.
The company recently has the opportunity to work with PennDot District 11, paving a section of road shoulder on State Route 910. Working in conjunction with the department’s ETI division, a change order was processed to allow the placement of RCC directly over the existing asphalt shoulder. The RCC placement was 10 feet wide and 1,817 feet long.
Produced in a central mix plant 20 miles from the site, Tri-axle dump trucks delivered 10 yard quantities of the material to the jobsite. Placement of the RCC was facilitated with a high density paving machine that produced 98 percent compaction directly out of the paver and before roller compaction. Compaction is seen as a key element in the placement of quality RCC. Following installation, the material was sprayed with white pigmented curing compound to ensure proper curing.
Because PennDot is using the project for research, they will revisit the site periodically for the next three years for inspections. Industry will continue to work with the department on this technology in the hopes of accelerating the decision making process.