Nearly six miles of Gas Hills Road (WY136) will undergo hot in-place pavement recycling beginning this month.
The project begins at the intersection Wyoming 136 and Wyoming 135 just southeast of Riverton and extends 5.67 miles, according to Wyoming Department of Transportation resident engineer Robert Scheidemantel of Riverton.
Scheidemantel said the $1.03 million project is scheduled to begin Monday, July 23, with topsoil blading, removal of delineator posts and installation of project signs.
A test strip is scheduled for Friday, July 27. Road improvements are expected to take about a month to complete.
Gas Hills Road drivers should expect traffic delays of up to 20 minutes.
“This project is a combined project with another $2.3 million project between Buffalo and Ucross in northeast Wyoming,” Scheidemantel said. “We’re hoping to find out if the cost savings and durability of this process on these lower traffic volume roads is better than doing complete pavement rehabilitation, which comes at a higher costs to WYDOT and taxpayers.”
Hot in-place recycling is a process where two inches of existing roadway pavement is removed, and the milled material is run through a pug mill and crushed to a specific size. Rejuvenating oil is added to the crushed material and then the material is placed on the roadway in a windrow. An asphalt paver picks up the windrowed material and paves it. Rollers compact the material on the roadway. After rolling to WYDOT specifications, the newly paved roadway is chip-sealed.