The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA) announced today that the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has won a 2022 Perpetual Pavement Award: By Design (PPA) for the 2.04-mile Interstate 26 Volvo Interchange in Berkeley County. This is. SCDOT’s first PPA: By Design. SCDOT has previously earned 10 PPAs: By performance.
To qualify for the PPA: By Design, the winning pavement must be a newly designed and constructed asphalt road built over new or reconditioned subgrade that meets strict Perpetual Pavement criteria. The pavement must demonstrate the characteristics expected from long-life asphalt pavements: excellence in design, quality in construction, and value for the traveling public. Engineers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) evaluated the nominations and validated the winners.
The award-winning three-leg directional interchange on I-26 provides direct access to the Volvo Manufacturing Facility. Completed in 2019 by Banks Construction Co., it has a current annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 51,300 vehicles with 16.3% trucks. SCDOT designed the Perpetual Pavement, and the Engineer of Record is Jay “Jesse” Thompson, P.E., formerly the SCDOT State Pavement Design Engineer, now with Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering.
The I-26 interchange meets the criteria for a PPA and will serve the traveling public in South Carolina well into the future requiring little maintenance. SCDOT will be honored by the South Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association (SCAPA) and presented with an engraved crystal obelisk.
“South Carolina has the third fastest growing state population in the United States, and so SCDOT has significantly increased our investments in transportation infrastructure improvements, including our interstate highways and bridges. Using perpetual pavement design on our interstate highways is a good example of ways we are using new or innovative methods to improve the state’s infrastructure,” said Dahae Kim, Assistant State Pavement Design Engineer. “SCDOT continually evaluates and improves design methods and construction materials to make our roads reliable and safe over the long term, and we appreciate the Asphalt Pavement Association’s recognition of our design work.”
“One key indicator of quality in construction is a smooth, long-life pavement,” said Amy Miller, P.E., National Director of the APA. “Long-life asphalt pavements serve the community, reduce the money needed for maintenance, and conserve raw materials, ultimately leading to a truly sustainable structure that exemplifies the triple bottom line. Asphalt roads can be engineered to last indefinitely with only routine maintenance and periodic surface renewal. Perpetual Pavements use fewer natural resources and offer road owners and users what they want most – an economical, smooth pavement that serves the community for decades.”
The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (www.driveasphalt.org) is a coalition of the National Asphalt
Pavement Association, the Asphalt Institute, and the State Asphalt Pavement Associations. The
Asphalt Pavement Alliance’s mission is to establish asphalt as the preferred choice for quality,
performance, and the environment.