Know Your Pavement Options

by Brian Pike, General Manager, Rocky Mountain Pavement Maintenance, Inc.

(as appeared in Colorado Real Estate Journal)

Parking lotOften, pavement maintenance can take a backseat to seemingly more important issues.  However,the cost savings of not maintaining your paved surfaces can drive long-term repair costs through the ceiling, particularly in a state that has significant freeze-thaw cycles.

Moisture penetrating beneath the paved surface, through cracks and potholes, will cause damage to the subgrade that is expensive to repair.  Preventive maintenance, such as crack sealing, pothole patching and seal coating, can save big money in the long run.

In the “Property Managers Guide to Pavement Maintenance” by Thomas McDonald and Ronald Douglas, the total cost of non-maintained asphalt pavement is $7.33 per square yard over a 15-year period.  Compare that with maintained pavement costs of $2.25 per square yard over the same time span.  On a 45,000 square-foot (5,000 square yards) asphalt parking lot, the savings would be over $27,000 in 15 years. Consider at today’s price the cost of a complete asphalt overlay for the same size lot, at a 2-inch depth, would cost approximately $30,000.  As you can see, preventive maintenance and repairs done on a yearly basis not only add life to your pavement, but also the cost savings actually can pay for an overlay in the future.

By using the “Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating Manual” developed by the Transportation Information center at the University of Wisconsin, you can evaluate and rate each lot to develop a tailored maintenance and repair plan.

Know your pavement options, for when it comes to paved surfaces, a pound of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

Click here for cost-saving tips on pothole maintenance.

Click here for tips on collecting bids from [paving contractors.

Rocky Mountain Pavement Maintenance, Inc., is located in Denver, Colorado.

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