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Gunter grinds on Two years ago, he was the man-of-the-hour – spotlighted on local newscasts gobbling up old asphalt and paving the way for new smooth roadways throughout King County. Today, “Gunter” is still a hero, because the King County Road Services Division has discovered that the state-of-the art asphalt grinder not only gets the job done fast, but he also saves taxpayers money.
Nicknamed “Gunter” by the road
Gunter extracts large areas of damaged asphalt at the rate of one ton per minute, and leaves the surface ready for paving. The 20-ton grinder uses carbide-tipped steel teeth to tear up the pavement and moves the ground-up asphalt along its own conveyor back to a leading truck. Following behind the grinder is another truck full of heated solid asphalt ready for grading and rolling. This continuous system of removal and application of new asphalt dramatically increases the amount of roadway that can be prepared in the course of a day and reduces unit costs. It improves the overall ride on the new road surface, while providing less disruption and delay for motorists. This new system is able to achieve these improvements by minimizing the traditional – and more time-consuming – method of square-cut patching. The equipment has paid dividends in operating efficiency and cost savings. In 2004, the actual cost was $108.44 per ton to grind and apply 5,887 tons of asphalt over 26.7 miles of county roadway at a total cost of $638,386. Utilizing the traditional method of roadway square-cut patching, this same work would have cost $1.1 million or $188.90 per ton. The net savings to the county resulted in a 43 percent reduction in costs for overlay prep. In addition, the leftover grindings can be recycled and used in gravel road base or used by asphalt plants to make new asphalt. The asphalt paving preparation program is now starting its third season with Gunter, and due to the unseasonably dry weather he’s already on the job. He faces an ambitious schedule this year, as the county is proposing to resurface close to 50 miles of roadway in 2005.
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crewmembers
due to its German engineering and difficult-to-pronounce manufacturer’s
name, the mammoth asphalt grinder has proven to be a real warrior in the
division’s never-ending fight to preserve and maintain county roads.