How the HIP asphalt recycling process can save you money

HIP is hot in more ways than one. It’s called hot-in-place asphalt recycling and companies providing the service are becoming more and more prominent due to the high demand. (In fact, one northeastern HIP recycling company representative recently told us that the company’s services were booked solid until 2002.) If your road is structurally adequate and has a stable base, total repaving isn’t necessary. Practicing preventive maintenance throughout the life of a surface can extend its life and also dramatically reduce long-term costs, and hot-in-place recycling helps to achieve that end, its promoters say.

One of the original pioneers of the process was J.F. Gallagher, Sr., and his company, Thornton, Illinois-based Gallagher Asphalt Corporation, has been doing HIP recycling for over 50 years in the Midwest. Now the company is going national with a co-op plan that makes it cost effective for both communities and the company.

Mike Jereb works in the sales and technical services end of the company, so we asked him about how agencies save money with HIP recycling — as much as 30%, according to Gallagher figures.

HIP vs. grind and pave

The 30% savings is based on a comparison of the grind-and-pave method. "Grind and pave is the most common method used today," says Jereb. "It consists of grinding off the top 1.5 to 3 in. of existing asphalt surface and then hauling it away to landfills. Some contractors will recycle a portion of the old asphalt by adding the rap with new mix and reinstalling it as a binder lift, which is the first coat of new asphalt, to the previously ground-off area.

"By using hot-in-place, the government agency is recycling 100% of its bought-and-paid-for old asphalt surface and there’s your savings — approximately 30%," Jereb says. "The grind-and-pave method also requires a larger grinder to make multiple passes over the road. Also needed are trucks to haul ground-off asphalt to plants. After this step, a power vacuum is needed to clean the fine ground asphalt that is left. There are many extra expenses when using the grind-and-pave me-thod."

Savings

"When using hot-in-place recycling, it takes approximately seven hours to have a one-mile lane ready for the final asphalt surface to be applied," Jereb says. "During that seven hours, we use two semi-size pieces of equipment followed by a roller. As they finish the area necessary for this equipment to fit on, they move forward, as does the portion of road that is closed to traffic. It is continually moving forward, cutting back on road down time.

"Compare [this] to grind and pave — it takes approximately eight hours to grind a one-mile lane and then six hours to pave a binder lift so that the road is ready for the final asphalt surface to be applied," he says. "That is a total of 14 hours, double the time for hot-in-place! Half the time, half the traffic control and engineer time." Jereb says that Gallagher is capable of doing between 10,000 and 11,000 sq. yds. daily.

A national plan

Due to the ever-shrinking road maintenance budgets that states and municipalities face, Gallagher Asphalt is aggressively pursuing the HIP system of asphalt maintenance on a national level. Working with smaller towns, cities, and highway departments, the company has developed a method of using HIP recycling that’s economical for both parties.

"[Up until now] we have done most of our work in the Midwest," says Jereb. "We are currently expanding our operation nationally. In order to make it cost effective, we need approximately 50,000-plus sq. yds. [in an area]. We are working on a Co-op Neighbors Contract. Once a community expresses interest, we go to their neighboring communities and present the system to them. If their neighbors are interested, we can combine contracts and lower the cost to all involved. This is currently being done in the Peoria, Illinois area. We want to make this available to communities of all sizes."

Rick Crum, street superintendent for the City of Marquette, Illinois, says that the company’s work done in 1999 was excellent. "We have had this type of road maintenance done in the past by other companies, but not without some type of problem or complaint from our citizens," he says.

Other agencies that have recently used Gallagher Asphalt’s HIP recycling are the City of Chicago and the Village of Plainfield, Illinois.