Part of old Cook Street will be new again; recycled asphalt to be used in paving, concrete as part of base
Matthew Call / Daily Register
A pile of rubble at the intersection of Morgan and Superior streets near Wauona Trail is what's left of the commercial section of Cook Street, which was torn up earlier this month. The chunks of asphalt taken up from Cook Street will be ground up and mixed into new materials used to pave the road.
By Matthew Call, Daily Register
The old Cook Street will be the new Cook Street, at least in part.
The concrete and asphalt taken up from the portion of the road under construction is being saved on a city lot near the Columbia County Fairgrounds. The asphalt will be crushed and recycled into the materials used for Cook Street's repaving and the old concrete will be used as a new base coat.
Reusing materials taken up from roads is common practice both at the state and local levels. Jim Blystone, engineering specialist with the state Department of Transportation and one of the DOT crew members overseeing the Cook Street project, said asphalt is one of "the most recycled materials in the U.S."
Crews from James Peterson Sons began tearing up the top layer of Cook Street this month. The concrete in the commercial section (Wisconsin Street to Adams Street) and asphalt from the residential section (Adams Street to the Columbia County Jail) were taken to a holding area off Wauona Trail.
"We've been storing concrete there for the last few years for other projects," Portage Street Superintendent Scott Maass said. "We don't crush every year. We wait until we have a substantial project."
The city saves up materials for eventual use; the last major road project prior to Cook Street was the paving of School Road more than two years ago.
Financial constraints — and the money needed for Cook Street — have curtailed recent road paving, Maass said.
"Budgets just haven't allowed it," Maass added.
When the road is ready to be paved, a contractor will take a portion of the old material and reuse it. Asphalt is crushed and blended with new material.
Not all of the old Cook Street material will make it back into the new road's surface. How much is recycled depends on factors such as where the material is being used and the contents of the new material into which it's being blended.
"There's different blends," Blystone said.
Typically, less than 20 percent of the new asphalt comes from recycled asphalt, although some newer blends can use 30 to 40 percent, Blystone said.
Recycled pieces of concrete generally are crushed and used as a base coat to the new paving; it is not blended with the new top coat.
Whatever material is left over goes to the repaving contractor, the municipality or the state to hold on to for future recycling, Blystone said. The price of recyclable materials is factored into the contract with the paver, Blystone added.
When chunks of the old road are set to be recycled, they are put through a drum that pulls tar out of the pieces. A magnet then extracts from the material pieces of rebar, sections of steel used to reinforce the road.
Cook Street will see two types of road materials in a compromise of price vs. convenience. Asphalt is being used east of Adams Street and the more durable — and costlier — concrete will be used west of Adams.
Paving in the commercial section is more disruptive than the residential, leading city officials to choose concrete for that portion, said Bob Redelings, Portage's director of public works/utilities manager.
The concrete in the commercial section "should last about 50 years instead of 20 years," Redelings said.
Work on Cook Street is progressing in the same fashion it has since the project began. Crews this week and next will continue work on water and sewer laterals between DeWitt and Adams streets, said Steve Koski, estimator/project manager for James Peterson Sons.
Workers will move to the block between Wisconsin and DeWitt streets the third week of the month for water and sewer work there. That work will require the closing of the DeWitt-Cook intersection for two nights around May 21.
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