Marshall County Highway Supervisor Jason Peters told the commissioners Tuesday morning that the highway department’s use of millings has saved the county a considerable amount of money.
The highway department received recycled asphalt, or millings, from the State Road 17 and U.S. 31 repaving projects. The contractors milled about an inch to three inches off the pavement surface and the broken pavement was transported to the highway department. Highway workers then separate the bigger chunks of asphalt from the smaller pieces. The bigger pieces are taken to be ground up while the smaller pieces are placed into the county’s pug mill where oil is added to create a paving compound. That compound is then used to rehabilitate the county’s roads at a drastically reduced cost.
Peters mentioned that the millings only cost the county $25.70 a ton to produce which totaled just short of $300,000. If hot mix was used at $59 a ton, it would have cost the county over $1 million.
Peters would like to get three more roads paved by the end of the season.
