Although the Perpetual Pavement Concept was first articulated in 2000, many asphalt pavements that were constructed long ago function as Perpetual Pavements.

For example, many full-depth and deep-strength pavements were built around the country in the 1960s and 1970s.

Perpetual Pavement Award Nomination Form

The Asphalt Pavement Alliance instituted the Perpetual Pavement Award program in 2001 to recognize State Agencies and other owners of pavements that had the foresight to build pavements according to these principles. To qualify for the award, the pavement must be at least 35 years old and must have never had a structural failure.

The first winner of a Perpetual Pavement Award was the New Jersey Turnpike, which was 50 years old at that time. Between 2001 and 2013, a total of 93 pavements qualified for the award. Winners include interstate highways, rural roads, and airport runways. The easternmost winner is in Connecticut, and the westernmost is on one of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

• In addition to having served for 35 years with no structural failure, additional requirements for the award include:
• Pavement must have hot-mix or warm-mix asphalt binder and surface layers.
• No rehabilitation or series of rehabilitations over the preceding 35 years that has increased the total pavement thickness by more than 4 inches. Thus, the overall structural gain during the 35 years of a pavement’s life preceding the nomination cannot be more than 4 inches.*
• Resurfacing intervals of no less than 13 years on the average.*
• Minimum project length is two (2) miles for all roadway types.
• In the case of “staged construction,” the 35-plus year time frame against which the award criterion is evaluated begins when all stage construction is completed.

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Perpetual Pavement Award Nomination Form for Municipal Roadways

Until now, the Perpetual Pavement Award program focused mainly on Interstate/US and State routes, Turnpikes, Farm to Market roads and Airports. This year we are excited to announce award criteria for Municipal Roadways and Residential Streets. To qualify these pavements must be at least 35 years old with no structural failures and a minimum project length of 1,200 feet (or 4 continuous blocks).

Municipal streets are noted for undergoing extreme traffic loading conditions and asphalt pavements have provided years of service to municipalities throughout the US. This award intends to recognize those pavements that have demonstrated outstanding performance.

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In Our Opinion: Utah Recognized for Transportation Infrastructure Investment

Deseret News editorial 

Published: Oct. 4, 2016 12:05 a.m.Updated: Oct. 3, 2016 7:08 p.m.

Motorists who find themselves frustrated by frequent confrontations with a slalom course of orange barrels along a stretch of road repair should look on the bright side — Utah is gaining a national reputation for taking care of its transportation infrastructure in a way that has made other states envious, and it has enhanced its image as a top place for new business growth.

A recent report by a nonprofit think tank gives Utah high marks for investing in state road projects in a survey that shows an increase in spending on transportation needs much greater than in any other state in the last year. A report by the Reason Foundation, which describes itself as a promoter of “libertarian principles,” elevated Utah in its rankings of performance and cost effectiveness in road management from 29th in the nation to 13th, a massive jump not matched by any other state. The primary reason is an increased rate of investment in transportation, which other state governments have looked upon with jealousy.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently led an expedition of business and civic leaders to Utah to take note of the state’s relatively high rate of expenditures in transportation upkeep. Utah spends about $660 million a year on road expansion, while Colorado spends about $159 million. The results include less congestion, safer conditions and a general benefit to statewide commerce.

The Utah Department of Transportation has successfully managed to eke out more funds from the state budget by convincing lawmakers that investments in transportation conditions will pay for themselves by facilitating more private business development and a commensurate increase in the tax base. Indeed, Utah was ranked as the best state in the nation for business this year by the cable channel CNBC, which cited investments in infrastructure as one of the key metrics in the analysis.

The lesson is that you can’t take care of infrastructure needs without biting the budget bullet and freeing up the needed cash. Following the state’s suit, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski made it a priority in her first budget to increase spending on road upkeep in the capital city after years of restraint. Since 2008, the city has diverted funds typically used for road maintenance to other needs. The mayor proposed, and the City Council approved, a $7.75 million appropriation of state-allocated funds for needed road work, a significant sum that will help reverse a trend of deteriorating conditions. Municipal transportation officials have estimated that two-thirds of the roads in the city are in “poor” or “very poor” condition.

Certainly, investment in infrastructure comes at a cost. State and local budgets contain many other priorities, all of which carry good arguments for increased spending. Utah policymakers have come to realize that putting money toward highways and city streets is not a winner-take-all game. A modern and functional infrastructure is a hallmark of a strong local economy, and keeping the roadways in good shape can literally help pave the way toward sustained economic growth.

Executive Director Message September 2016

The Best Get Better

If you are lucky enough in your professional life, every now and then you will come across former colleagues and bosses that remind you how much you owe them for what they have done for you and really how much more you have left yet to do to achieve similar levels of success. I recently had such an occasion as I listened to Senator Orrin Hatch discuss the passage of the FAST Act and its ramifications for Utah’s infrastructure moving forward. Senator Hatch was my first boss out of college, and I remember well many of the discussions we had then about Utah’s roads and highways as we drove around much of the state together. Little did I know then that my start as a staff assistant would, within a few short years, lead to a chance to help Utah’s roads and highways become even better through the work of the Utah Asphalt Pavement Association (UAPA).

As Senator Hatch mentioned the other day, Utah’s roads and highways are some of the best in the nation. So much so, other lawmakers in Washington, D.C. continue to approach him asking just what is Utah’s secret for success? For us, it is no secret: strong leadership from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), matched by incredibly talented and dedicated producers and contractors who know how to keep Utah moving, equals roads that are the envy of much of the nation. The icing on the cake, however, or, to be more true to our industry, the extra inch of HMA on the project, continues to be an inherent and deeply rooted desire to be even better.

For the asphalt pavement industry in Utah, that means working hand-in-glove with the Utah Chapter of the APWA, cities, counties, private owners, and UDOT to produce specifications that will increase durability without sacrificing stability, draw focus to longitudinal joints, emphasize smoothness for ride quality, make great products like Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) even better, and create opportunities to work towards solutions that are both right and reasonable when changes need to be made. The hairy details of each of these specifications and the changes we have worked through can, and often do, take pages. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was close to getting a reserved parking space at UDOT during the summer months because I spent so much time in meetings there!

None of that matters when you see all of what you have worked for come to fruition. That, in my mind, continues to be the beauty of the road construction industry. We build things, we connect people, we keep the state moving, and we get to witness all of it take place each and every day. I saw it earlier this summer as the Central UDOT parking lot was paved with a HMA mix produced according to the new APWA specifications. I saw it ten years ago as I drove the roads of Utah with Senator Hatch, and I simply cannot wait to see what we can do even better in the future!