Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was named winner of the first Perpetual Pavement Award: By Design and the first Perpetual Pavement Award: By Conversion by the Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA). These new Perpetual Pavement Awards (PPA) celebrate long-life asphalt pavements that reflect the characteristics expected from Perpetual Pavements: excellence in design, quality in construction and value to taxpayers.
Engineers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University evaluated the nominations and validated the results.
The 2020 winning projects are:
- PPA: By Design – A new westbound lane of SR 522 connecting I-5 near the northern limits of Seattle with US 2 in the City of Monroe, WA, is the first project to earn this award. The section from milepost 20.23 to milepost 24.61 was completed in 2015 by Lakeside Industries. The Engineer of Record is Chris Johnson (retired).
- PPA: By Conversion – The first pavement to be recognized with this award is a section of I-5, Joe Leary Slough to Nulle Road, from milepost 234.08 to milepost 243.39 in Skagit and Whatcom Counties. The segment was originally constructed as a concrete roadway in 1966. By 1993, faulting was already severe enough to require 4.2” of ½” HMA to be placed over it. In 2011, Granite Construction resurfaced the road with an asphalt design that meets Perpetual Pavement criteria. Johnson is also the Engineer of Record for this project.
WSDOT will be honored by the Washington Asphalt Pavement Association and presented with an engraved crystal obelisk for each winning project.
“One key indicator of quality in construction is a smooth, long-life pavement,” said Amy Miller, P.E., national director of the APA. “Long-life asphalt pavements serve the community, reduce the money needed for maintenance, and conserve raw materials, ultimately leading to a truly sustainable structure that exemplifies the triple bottom line. Asphalt roads can be engineered to last indefinitely with only routine maintenance and periodic surface renewal. Perpetual Pavements use fewer natural resources and offer road owners and users what they want most – an economical, smooth pavement that serves the community for decades.”
