Janie Franz

Eric M. Reimschiissel, Vice President and Division Manger of the Pavement Maintenance Division of the American Asphalt and Grading, Co., is a busy man. His experience keeps his crews equally busy and helps him stay on top of his booming business. As a past President and Slurry Seal Workshop Committee Chairman of the International Slurry Surfacing Association, he has been active in the Slurry Seal industry for 30 years, providing industry guidance on applications and specifications in several states. He has also been promoting the use of Slurry Seals and pavement preservation for three decades and currently operates a seal coat manufacturing facility, making mineral field emulsion seal coat

Based in Las Vegas, the Pavement Maintenance Division grew out of a customer demand from the parent company, American Asphalt and Grading, a large paving and grading business with two decades of experience. "I started my part of the company in 2001," Reimschiissel says. "The goal was to set up a full service pavement maintenance company, providing services and applications to benefit asphalt owners. We have built the business based on customer service."

In its early days, Reimschiissel's company had one seal coat crew and one slurry crew. Today, the company has 75 employees working in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona doing a variety of services. "We provide services and solutions for asphalt pavement maintenance, including but not limited to Slurry Seal, seal coating, crack sealing, asphalt paving, asphalt repairs, and pavement marking and striping," says Reimschiissel. "I now have two paving / patching crews, two Slurry Seal crews, four seal coat crews, a crack seal crew, and a striping crew. I also manufacture AMERICOAT, an asphalt emulsion seal coat." He places Slurry Seal in three states placing Slurry Seal, but in southern Nevada, he keeps his paving, seal coat, and striping crews hopping.

Annually, his division lays down 325,000 tons of asphalt on highways, city streets, subdivisions, and homeowner association streets, as well as paving commercial, industrial, and residential parking lots. One of his 11-man crews laid more than 5,200 tons of black paving in a ten-hour period. His maintenance crews do type 1 (fine, used for low wear traffic areas), 2 (general, used for most roadwork) and 3 (coarse, used for severe surface defects) Slurry Seals, seal coat, spray application fog seals and rejuvenation seals, crack sealing (hot and cold applied), asphalt overlays, and asphalt repairs, divots, percot, and patching.

Not only are Reimschiissel's crews efficient, they are precise and tidy. That is extremely important in cities such as Las Vegas. "Southern Nevada has many requirements from city agencies that are stricter than other areas due to the amount of growth from the past. The requirements and expectations are high, and businesses have expectations of keeping their property looking good due to the tourist industry. The Slurry Seal we place here is very competitive on price so the production rates must be high and crew capabilities must be very good. We are facing tight schedules every day," says Reimschiissel.

Because Las Vegas is a major tourist attraction, the city expects their streets and public lots to be pristine. Even asphalt street patches have to be perfect. "It's just a quality level for the Slurry Seal and the asphalt," Reimschiissel says. "Officials will come out and look at a patch you do in the street. They are definitely stricter than any other place I have worked." Some of the requirements for asphalt quality include neat seams and having to grind off oil spots. Crews also have to be neat and make sure nothing is left on the curb line. "If you get anything on the curb line, you have to clean it off," Reimschiissel says. "Here they also have dust requirements." And those are strictly enforced with some thirty-odd dust inspectors who check for mud on the street and other restrictions.