FOX40 News (California, USA) reported in Roseville-Northwest of San Francisco, it is very apparent why Washington Boulevard is in need of repairs—there are large cracks everywhere and the pavement is uneven. It’s time for an upgrade. “The ground is moving underneath the asphalt and it is causing it to crack and fail,” said Jason Shykowski, City Engineer.
Shykowski says they plan on using roller compacted concrete (RCC)—a special pavement used since the 1970’s, but more widely used in the last decade—and quickly increasing. “By paving with roller compacted concrete we can better use the limited amount of roadway resurfacing funds available and pave more city streets,” Shykowski said.
The project began the end of June, 2018 and will be competed in late fall, 2018. This particular RCC job mills the asphalt, uses purpose-built high-density paving equipment—minimizing rolling—to place RCC, then a power-troweled finisher was used—providing a more consistent and uniform texture (please see video by clicking on image below).
The main benefits of RCC include fast construction, cost-effective, open to traffic shortly after placement, resistant to shoving and pushing, long life, minimal maintenance, no rutting nor pot holes, resistant to hydraulic fluid and fuel spills, and will not soften under high temperatures. The RCC Pavement Council website states that RCC does not require forms, hand finishing or steel reinforcement. Compaction using steel drum vibratory rollers begins immediately after placement and continues until the pavement meets density requirements. RCC does not require the internal vibration that is necessary to consolidate conventional concrete pavement. Joints are commonly used and curing is an important step to protect from moisture loss and to ensure adequate strength gain and durability. Recent technology developments using admixtures and surface sprays have opened opportunities for RCC to be troweled—as in this Rolesville project (please see video above)—and broom finished if desired.
After this project is completed, crews will then work on repairing roads in residential neighborhoods. It’s about saving money in the short term and long term. Shykowski says the concrete can go 25 years without maintenance, while regular asphalt requires service every seven to 10 years. So it means they save money.“It will save One Million Dollars on this project at about 20% of the reconstruction cost, and it will save about 30% in maintenance over the lifetime of the roadway,” Shykowski told FOX40 News.
“A portion of this project is using “SB 1” gas tax money the state of California started collecting last fall,” Shykowski said. After “SB 1″ was passed, 12¢ were added to each gallon of gas. Fred Phelps, a consumer whom FOX40 News interviewed at a local gas station, said that he drives on Roseville’s roads every day and he knows the roads have to be fixed, but is not a fan of the gas tax. “All of a sudden our roads need to be fixed and they jackup the gas tax. It’s ridiculous. I went from a $35-fillup to over $50 and my truck is even worse. I’m skeptical based on their history, but if that IS what it is being used for, then OKAY!” Phelps said.
But for Shykowski, it comes down to one simple question: “What do you want? Do you want good roads? Without the “SB 1” gas tax money, our roads will continue to deteriorate.” The gas tax will be on the November ballot. For the FOX40 News report, please go to: https://fox40.com/2018/06/18/gas-tax-money-used-to-repair-roseville-roadways/
Since 2012, 31 of 50 states in America have been successful in raising additional transportation revenues. The information on the Transportation for America website details those funding-focused plans to raise revenue at the state level for transportation. With the Highway Trust Fund still headed for insolvency due to declining vehicle miles traveled and more fuel-efficient vehicles, states are increasingly coming up with their own plans for raising additional transportation revenue—while hoping the federal government continues their historic role as a strong partner in their efforts. To see the 31 states (listed alphabetically) that have increased funding for transportation—some of which includes: gas tax, diesel, natural gas, and hydrogen, toll roads, license fees; annual registration fees for cars, motorcycles, as well as commercial and farm vehicles; additional fees on high-MPG vehicles; vehicle sales tax; vehicle sales taxes—to transportation; adult bicycle purchases ($15-Oregon); new registration fees for hybrids and electric cars; heavy vehicles highway impact fee (Georgia); transit fares charged by the transit authority; Multimodal Transportation Fund—raises transit and passenger rail; truck weight fees; moving violation fines; car rental tax; wheel tax; road-usage charge, and so much more, please go to the “Transportation for America” website: http://t4america.org/maps-tools/state-transportation-funding/
A June 26, 2018 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy article titled “Gas Taxes Rise in Seven States, Including an Historic Increase in Oklahoma” reported that by July 1, seven states will be raising their gasoline taxes, and most of those states will boost their diesel tax rates as well (see 2 charts above). The reasons for these increases vary, but most will inject new funds into infrastructure maintenance and construction projects. For the article, please go to: https://itep.org/gas-taxes-rise-in-seven-states-including-an-historic-increase-in-oklahoma/