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Pennsylvania-based paving contractor E.J. Breneman L.P. recently completed a NovaChip application process for Florida’s Department of Transportation as part of the road agency’s ongoing initiative to extend the service life of its road network. The 5.5-mile stretch of Interstate 10 just west of Jacksonville is a heavily traveled roadway that required substantial rehabilitation to accommodate the daily traffic volume it carries.

The project called for milling 22 lane miles and then replacing it with two 1.5-inch lifts of structural hot-mix asphalt, with a final ¾-inch bonded open-graded wearing course.

“We can generally get 12 to 20 years out of our structural courses, and we were looking for a way to extend the life of our wearing courses,” notes Stephen Sedwick P.E., material operations engineer for District 2. “We (Florida DOT) completed a one-mile test project using a bonded wearing course application on I-75 in Marion County three years ago, and we were happy with the way that project has performed. So, we decided to use the process on a full-blown project.”

The only change from what typically would be considered a NovaChip or Ultrathin Bonded Wearing Course application the DOT made on the project is in the hot-mix design used in the application.

“Rather than using a gap-graded mix (which is typical of a NovaChip application), we wanted to use (Florida DOT’s) our FC5 open-graded friction course mix design,” Sedwick says. “It’s the standard design mix that we place on a typical mill and fill project. It’s a porous mix design that allows the surface water to drain away, providing good tire/road contact and eliminating a lot of tire spray.”