“Due to the area’s distance from any hot mix asphalt or concrete plants, it’s more advantageous to recycle and reuse the existing roadway and subbase, and rebuild the surface,” Castaneda said. “The KMA 220 makes it cost-effective and eliminates the logistics of having to move large quantities of material from lower elevations or the desert to the high Sierras.”

While the reconstruction project was taking place miles on either side of the clearing where the KMA 220 was situated, the plant would stay right where it was, with trucks bringing and removing material no matter what their location was.

“We won’t move the machine until we’re complete,” Castaneda said. “The portable plant is remaining stationary until the end of the project.”

But moving the machine to that high elevation, while not effortless, was done without much ado. “It took some work, but it wasn’t as bad as some other places we’ve hauled it, despite some hairpin turns,” Castaneda said. “The KMA 220 is towable, and we just towed it up here and set it up. We then set up a cement silo and water system, and started processing.”

The difficulty for the crews has been fighting narrow roads and mountain switchbacks daily, without a lot of room to work in, he said. “But we have been lucky in that we don’t have a lot of traffic,” Castaneda said.

Used for foam, emulsion bases

PRS uses its KMA 220 to the fullest extent, for cement-, foamed asphalt- and asphalt emulsion-stabilized bases. It’s employed for both cold in-place and cold foam processes.

“Throughout the year we will use it equally for emulsion, foam and cement stabilized recycling,” Castaneda said. “In fact, it just came from an emulsion project for the city of Palm Desert, CA.

The KMA 220 is powered by diesel fuel, which runs a generator for the electrical processes of the KMA 220. “It’s been very reliable,” he said. “We use it around the year.” The same KMA 220 was used in Yosemite National Park last year.