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Highlands Today

County-Produced Asphalt Hits The Road

Jasmina MeyerHighlands Today

From left: Highlands County Road and Bridge laborers Joey Bevins, Steve Strickland and Sandy Lewis work on paving a 9 foot path on a 2,000 foot stretch of Daffodil Street on Thursday in Leisure Lakes.

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: October 17, 2008

SEBRING - After a yearlong halt due to budget restrictions, Highlands County got back into resurfacing local roads Thursday morning.

A county Road and Bridge Department crew worked on Tearose Street in the Leisure Lakes area, laying down a new surface with 150 tons of asphalt, the first batch produced by the county's new asphalt plant.

"I think it's very important that the road and bridge department gets back into resurfacing and reconstructing roads and putting more time into the community streets, instead of the parkway-type projects," said Kyle Green, county road and bridge superintendent.

For at least a decade, he said, the annual resurfacing and road reconstruction program had been contracted out to private firms.

With the county now producing its own asphalt and county workers doing the road work, Green said he expects to save between $15 and $18 per ton of asphalt, and that will go a long way in stretching the county's road maintenance dollars.

"When I say savings, I don't mean we're putting money back into the county's pocket," he said. "What we're doing is putting it back into road projects, so we'll be able to do more miles with the same amount of money."

For this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, Green said he expects that county crews will resurface about 22 miles of roadways, using about 16,000 tons of asphalt, and reconstruct between two and a half to three miles of roadways, using about 6,000 tons of asphalt.

There may be more county roads like Tearose Street, which was nearing, but not yet at the point where it would need reconstruction, which is much more expensive than resurfacing, Green said.

"Some of the roads that were put on our reconstruct list for years down the road, there is a chance, now that we have our own asphalt plant, that we can resurface those roads in less time," he said.

By resurfacing before a complete reconstruction is needed, Green said, "we will save in the long-run costs."

Ken Wheeler, director of the county's solid waste department, said start-up of the new asphalt plant at the county landfill is going well and it should be up to full production by the end of next week.

"The mix design we're using right now is certified by a licensed engineer to be in compliance with (Florida) DOT (Department of Transportation) specifications," he said.

Technicians with Gencore Industries, headquartered in Orlando, began installation of the $2.7-million asphalt plant in early June and will remain on site as long as needed to ensure that the plant is operating properly, he said.

County employees have been trained and certified to run the plant, and they will have continuous back-up from Gencore if needed, he said.

"The controls for the plant are wired so that they can look at them from Orlando," Wheeler explained. "So, if we are having a problem, they will be able to monitor our operations. They could make adjustments remotely from Orlando, or just advise us over the telephone."

Total cost of launching the asphalt plant is $3.2 million, of which half is being covered by a $1.65-million grant from the state's innovative recycling program.

Much of the savings in asphalt production will come from fueling the plant with methane gas, produced by decomposing waste at the landfill, which is now being burned off.

Production began Wednesday using fuel oil. By the end of next week, Wheeler said, the plant should be fueled with a mixture of 90 percent methane gas from the landfill and 10 percent fuel oil.

"You're looking at $6 and change per ton of asphalt using fuel oil," he said. "We will be able to drop that cost from $6 to 60 cents per ton."

Wheeler said additional cost reductions in producing asphalt will come later this year, when the county begins substituting recycled glass for some of the coarse sand that goes into asphalt, and starts recycling roof shingles, which are composed of about 40 percent asphalt cement.

Wheeler said recycling glass for asphalt production will begin in about six months, and recycled shingles will be added to the mix several months later.

"By adding one recycled material at a time, we will perfect the change,"

Wheeler said. "There's going to be some adjustments, and will be better able to analyze going this way. It's a cautious way to implement change."

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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