Markets > Construction

Industry Overview: Lime Applications in Road Construction

The road construction industry uses over 2 million tons of lime each year as new roadways are constructed and old roadways are rebuilt or maintained. Lime use is expected to increase as its popularity over alternative methods continues to rise. Lime presents a superior solution for the challenges facing design engineers and contractors of highways for:

• Subgrade soil and base stabilization: Being a cementitious material, lime serves as a stabilization agent for pavement subgrade, the natural soil directly under an asphalt or concrete pavement. Lime stabilization is also used to improve the granular base material often used as a layer between the subgrade and the asphalt or concrete surface. Lime stabilization greatly improves the strength and other properties of these materials and can result in considerable cost savings.   More information ››
  
  View an example of "Pavement Cost Savings"

  
  

• Improving asphalt pavement: Hydrated lime is used as an additive in asphalt. Hydrated lime improves the cohesion of the asphalt binder to the aggregate particles, reducing "stripping." Hydrated lime retards the asphalt aging process and improves stiffness properties. Hydrated lime helps reduce asphalt pavement rutting and increases fatigue resistance to heavy wheel loads, a cause of pavement cracking. Adding hydrated lime to asphalt significantly increases pavement life and serviceability.
  
  In addition to roadways, lime is also widely used in the construction of airfield pavement, vehicular parking areas, and other paved areas. Lime is used to stabilize earth fills, including earthen dams.  More information ››

  
  

  Lime is a cost-effective, well-proven material that significantly improves pavement performance:

  
  

  • Increasing traffic loads necessitates rebuilding our nation's roadways.

  • The migration and expansion of urban population into rural areas necessitates building new roadways.

  • For new pavement construction, subgrade and base stabilization continues to gain popularity as federal, state, and local highway engineers seek to reduce construction cost while increasing pavement service life and serviceability.

  • For pavement reconstruction, lime stabilization of the existing subgrade eliminates the need to excavate and replace unsuitable material with high quality granular fill. This results in significant savings in construction time and cost.

  • For some applications, asphalt (also called bituminous concrete) pavement is designed to be a "perpetual pavement." With adequate thickness and proper materials, the asphalt pavement structure will last for decades with only the top-wearing course periodically needing restoration. According to pavement design engineers, a key factor in designing "perpetual pavement" is the performance of the asphalt binder (the cement that glues the aggregate together) that provides stiffness and resistance to rutting. Hydrated lime performs this role by improving the binding power of the bitumen-aggregate bond and physiochemically moderates the effects of weathering, aging and the fatigue cracking caused by heavy traffic loads.

Carmeuse Lime & Stone
11 Stanwix Street • 21st Floor • Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: 1-412-995-5500
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