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The Evotherm warm-mix asphalt section is in the center lane going east on I-70 just before the Johnson tunnel. (Photo: Business Wire)

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — MeadWestvaco Corporation's (MWV)  Evotherm warm-mix asphalt technology has been approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for use in statewide paving projects.

MWV’s Evotherm warm-mix asphalt technology can be used in any traditional hot-mix asphalt application, but with significantly lower temperatures required for paving application. This feature proved particularly useful in Colorado’s challenging high attitude paving projects.

In August 2007, CDOT and MWV began paving a portion of I-70 as an Evotherm test section near the Eisenhower and Johnson Tunnels. This paving project incurred some of the harshest environments to date where Evotherm had been applied, including 35 inches of precipitation annually, much of which is frozen and equating to 200 inches of snowfall. With 150 to 200 freeze thaw cycles annually, challenges from annual daily traffic equaling 30,000 vehicles a year on average and 10 percent truck traffic, this test area provided significant challenges, and Evotherm performed extremely well.

“CDOT is pleased to have assessed these warm-mix technologies and to develop a process for additional technologies to become approved for use,” said CDOT’s Bill Schiebel, Region 1 Materials. “We tried to be comprehensive to account for companies that have done a lot of due diligence while providing a way for new technologies to be introduced. Our demonstration section with MWV allowed us to answer some lingering concerns regarding moisture susceptibility for warm-mix asphalt. This site has gone a long way in addressing these concerns.”

Even at nearly 11,000 feet, the roadway paved with Evotherm is performing great. The CDOT and the National Center for Asphalt Testing (NCAT) recently published its 3-year project report, and Evotherm matched the performance of traditional hot-mix asphalt.

Evotherm’s “Behind the Screed” blog shares valuable insights regarding this warm-mix asphalt technology. Contractors interested in supplying Evotherm asphalt mixtures to CDOT projects in 2011 must complete the contractor portion of CP-59 for Non-Standard Asphalt Mixes to become an approved producer for Evotherm WMA. Interested parties can contact MWV (evotherm@mwv.com) for additional information and assistance completing and submitting the contractor portion of CP-59.