Hwy. 53
Bladen County, NC

Highway 53 in Bladen County, NC is often used as a thoroughfare for vacationers traveling to White Lake and beach goers headed for North Carolina’s southern coast. As a much-traveled route, the stretch of Highway 53 between White Lake and Kelly was suffering severe block cracking; a pattern of cracks dividing the pavement surface into approximately rectangular pieces or blocks. It is a condition that is usually caused by thermal shrinkage of the asphalt binder and usually indicates that the asphalt has hardened significantly. Because of the severity of the block cracking, the time had come to improve the quality of this road.

Bladen County Maintenance Engineer Ken Clark and Maintenance Supervisor Carlos Smith conferred with North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Division 6 Division Maintenance Engineer Ken Murphy and Bituminous (BST) Supervisor Archie Smith, and decided a triple seal using lightweight aggregate would be the best rehabilitation technique for this road. Lightweight aggregate was chosen because it is a good economic alternative to hot mix asphalt, it has a superior wet co-efficient in comparison to non-expanded aggregates, and provides smooth ride quality.

After putting together a paving plan BST Supervisor Archie Smith, Transportation Supervisor-1 Eugene Autry and Transportation Supervisor-2 Henry Kirk, and their all NCDOT crew were ready to tackle the 24-foot wide 22.65-mile long section of Hwy 53.

The project started with short overlays of plant mix asphalt, where needed. STALITE was then used in crack patching with an AMZ machine. This task required three stockpiles of STALITE lightweight aggregate, six tri-axle dump trucks, distributors, a chip-spreader, and two rollers. A triple seal application was used with square yard rates as follows:

1st seal-.38 gallons of CRS2 & 9 to 11 pounds of lightweight
2nd seal-.35 gallons of CRS2 & 9 to 11 pounds of lightweight
3rd seal-.30 gallons of CRS2 & 7 to 8 pounds of lightweight

Because of the cooperation of several NCDOT crews, this project only took 12 days to complete—a minimal impact on traffic. Plans are to go back within three years and address any cracks that may surface and then apply a final Micro Seal on the ride surface.