Spec Committee Meeting was held Tuesday November 2 at 10:00 AM at the Vinewood 2842 SE 29th In Topeka.
Attended by: Greg Schieber, Jake Lauer, Jeff Barnes, Jon Crofoot, Lee Ann Legge, Mike Crow, Rick Kreider, Ross Weber, Roy Rissky, Todd Carlile, Tom Deddens
New Business:
1.
Greg Shieber discussed the AC selection process for RAP projects.
Greg Shieber discussed the AC selection process for RAP projects.Greg and Rick said they added the High temperature Binder requirement to some RAP projects because they were afraid the use of PG 52-28 or PG 52-34 could bring the upper temperature to below a 62 grade. Greg said he realized it created some small windows for RAP percentages
in some mixes. The issue is the contractor could use a certain grade of PG and it would only meet the blending chart requirement for a very narrow percentage of RAP say 30-35% with nothing above and nothing below.
KDOT will look at the projects that required the high side of the binder this coming construction season to evaluate the blending chart. The intent in the future is to not have a high side of the binder requirement to get away from the small windows and problems these may cause. Instead based on these findings in the future on high truck traffic routes the high side of the binder may require a minimum, such as 64 and then allow for the blending chart to determine how much RAP may be used using the low side of the binder requirement.
Roy asked if mixes with 58-28 and RAP are tender, there were a variety of opinion I don’t recall anyone having serious issues with tenderness.
Jeff Barnes asked if the situation arose if the contractor could feed two different RAPS from different locations on the project with two RAP bins. Greg said OK.
2.Todd Carlile would like to discuss mineral filler requirements for SMA mixes.
Todd Carlile would like to discuss mineral filler requirements for SMA mixes.Todd asked if the Specifications were permanently relaxed on the mineral filler requirements For SMA projects. APAC-Shears was allowed to use silica at a higher percentage on a prior project. Silica doesn’t quite meet the Rigden voids requirement of less than 50%. The contractors requested KDOT re-evaluate the requirements for mineral filler and report back to us prior to the November letting as there is a project that is involved.
KDOT responded through KAPA, that Silica would be allowed in SMA at up to 10% of the total aggregate; however they did not relax the Rigden Void requirement that was requested.
KDOT later issued an addendum to the Meade County SMA that further allowed silica with Rigden voids up to 55 to be used.
3.Ross Weber would like to discuss pre-bid RAP sample uniformity.
Ross Weber would like to discuss pre-bid RAP sample uniformity.Ross requested that KDOT ensure uniformity in the procedure for cutting RAP samples for projects prior to letting. On some projects the samples are being cut shallower than the depth of the action and may be
giving inaccurate results on both the binder grading by KDOT and Volumetrics by the contractors.
Greg Schieber and Rick Kreider will discuss at the DCE meeting in the near future.
Items 4 and 5 were added during the meeting mainly because we just can’t stand to end a meeting with everyone happy.
4.Commercial Grade Testing
Commercial Grade TestingMike Crow asked that we discuss some problems that were reported by contractors working in one of the Districts. The contractors complained that KDOT was requiring design Volumetrics be applied to mixes being
tested by gradation. The design VMA requirement is 13.5 and the contractors were required to maintain 13.5 in the field. The contractors also complained that any change they made to gradation or volumetric
properties required a re-design before they were allowed to continue; sometimes delaying multiple projects.
Greg Shieber and Rick Kreider said they will work to resolve this issue.
5.Roy Rissky or someone wanted to discuss spray paver overlays again so here we go.
Roy Rissky or someone wanted to discuss spray paver overlays again so here we go.Mike Crow asked how the Performance spec for tack coat was coming along. Rick Kreider said they are still working on developing the Pull Test and hope to have something ready in the spring; he didn’t
commit to a date.
Todd Carlile asked if there was a tack problem that had been identified. Roy and Rick said that poor tack bond is believed to be the culprit causing the longitudinal cracking that occurs near or in the wheel paths.
Some contractors don’t agree some do.
(Ross will editorialize for a bit)
I think we would all like to see the crack problem resolved for the good of the industry. It is important that we solve the entire problem because it can take several years to see the results of changes. I personally believe there may be multiple answers to the cracking issue and we all need to be careful not to get so caught up in arguing that we fail to see the entire problem as well as the entire solution.
Contractor’s opinions on this issue seem to hinge solely on whether they like using spray pavers. The solution may include spray pavers, maybe not. I think it would be short sighted of all of us not to try something.
If spray pavers aren’t the answer, we need to find out. If they are the answer we need to know that too.
The meeting adjourned at 12:30 PM with no plans made for our next meeting
Ross A Weber Jr.
Construction Manager
APAC Ks., Inc. Shears Div.
620-669-7319
