2015 Innovation Honorable Mention
Nampa Highway District #1: Radius Seal Coat
| Entry Title: | Radius Seal Coat |
| Problem Statement: | We noticed there was a lot of time wasted when chipping a radius at the intersection. Not only was our time lost, but the traveling public was being impacted by larger traffic delays while the distributor worked at shooting the radius and then the chipper covered the oil. It was cutting into our production of finished roads every day. |
| Summary of Solution: | We purchased a 400 gallon Tack Pot with propane burner/heater with a spray wand that would enable the crew to shoot oil on the radius, cover with chips and then roll them out prior to the main seal coat body. |
| Labor, Equipment, Materials: | The “Radius Crew” consists of a 3 or 4 man crew. One pick-up to pull the tack pot, one 10-wheeler with mounted shoulder machine to dump the chips once it’s shot and one pick-up to pull a small roller to ensure the chips are rolled properly. |
| Summary of Expenses: | Initially the tack pot was the only expense we made and we rented a roller to see if it was going to work. We then purchased a small roller that we use on many other jobs throughout the year. All of the other equipment used was already on hand. |
| Savings/Benefit of this Solution: | We have been doing this for 3 seasons and have noticed many benefits from this. The biggest is in adding approximately 1 additional mile of completed road per day, and in doing that we are able to complete the chipping portion of the seal coat operation in 2 weeks. Traffic is significantly less impacted, and we are now able to Fog Seal the radii and cul-de-sacs in our subdivisions making a better finished product. |