More asphalt is recycled than aluminum cans, newsprint, plastic and glass beverage containers, and magazines. The hot mix asphalt industry also recycles slag from the steel-making process, roofing shingles, sand from metal-casting foundries, and rubber from old tires.
The first indications of constructed roads date from about 4000 BC and consist of stone-paved streets at Ur in modern-day Iraq, and timber roads preserved in a swamp in Glastonbury, England.
Did you know that your concrete and paved surfaces need to be regularly maintained? Dirt and debris need to be cleaned off the surface, the surface completely dried, and then sealer applied in order to protect your investment.
Prior to 1925, highways in the U.S. were administered by for-profit private road clubs. The Federal Aid Highway Act standardized the naming/numbering of highways and made them the purview of the states.
In 1595, on his third voyage to Trinidad, Sir Walter Raleigh discovered a massive asphalt lake. The asphalt from Lake Trinidad would later be used to pave a number of roads in the U.S., including Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
Statistics show that while the U.S. road network has not significantly expanded since the 1960s, registered vehicles on the road have more than tripled and are traveling many more miles. This significantly increases the load that asphalt must be able to carry.