Jasper Streets testing new road repair material today

Jasper Street Department will be testing a new road surfacing material called Liquid Road™ on several city streets on Wednesday.

According to Street Department Superintendent Raymie Eckerle if the tests work well, he hopes the product will add another five to eight years of life to a treated street. “It’s a new material,” Eckerle said. “It’s to try to make our paving dollar stretch longer.”

Eckerle said a road typically lasts fifteen years  before needing repaved. “So if we can get this one there and we can stretch it out another five, six, seven, eight years and it holds up, it’s a possibility that the same material can be applied again,” he said. “Asphalt is good underneath, it’s the top where it starts to deteriorate and so that’s what we’re trying to save.

The Street Department will be testing the Liquid Road™ material on Holy Family Drive between Third Avenue and Church Avenue; Schroeder Avenue between Justin and Brames; and Giesler Road south of Church Avenue. Those roads will be be closed while the department puts down two coats today.

Eckerle is asking for area residents and motorist to work with them as they attempt to complete the project today.

“I think we’re gonna have a nice product in the end.”

From the Liquid Road™ website: Liquid Road™ is a high performance mineral and fiber reinforced asphalt emulsion blended with polymers and special surfactants for superior adhesion, flexibility, and durability. Liquid Road™ replenishes the binder that is lost through oxidation and weathering, while providing a slip resistant durable surface treatment