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This first article in a two-part series on recycler/stabilizers discusses their value in asphalt applications. A subsequent article will take a look at their growing use in soil stabilization, as well as discuss selection criteria for matching these machines to the application.

Reclaimer/stabilizers provide a solution to a nagging infrastructure problem. Many asphalt roads are deteriorating, and the "farm-to-market" roads are carrying loads they were never designed to handle.

Many times, road repair will be done by milling off the top layer of asphalt and replacing it with an overlay. While this can be a quick fix in certain circumstances, it does nothing to correct structural problems.

This is where reclaimer/stabilizers come in. Reclaimer/stabilizers allow the use of Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) to upgrade these surfaces. The FDR process solves many of the problems associated with reconstruction. "With a full-blown reconstruction, there can be disruption to the municipal environment and the traffic flow," says Dave Dennison, product manager - soil products, BOMAG Americas. "With reclamation, you can get in and out of there faster."

"FDR is a great tool because you can take that old road, pulverize it, blend it with cement or some other additive, widen it and you have a pretty good template to start with," says Chuck Valentine, owner of Vancouver, WA-based Valentine Resurfacing, which has been tackling FDR projects for close to 15 years. "Every instance where a county or city uses the FDR process, I can't think of one situation where they haven't had their eyes opened and said this is a really great tool."