Dave Savage, Director of Marketing for Pine Test Equipment and Amy Weller, Pine’s Communication & Media Manager visited the working asphalt testing lab in the City of Los Angeles. The impressive state-of-the-art testing lab run by the City’s Pavement Preservation Department supports 28,000 lane miles across the City of LA. The department paves 2400 lane miles each year which equates to 6.5 lane miles each day. During the visit, representatives of the Pavement Preservation Department touted the Wheel Tester as a huge time saver and shared their findings.
A ten-year study of Pine Test Equipment’s “Rutwheeler” revealed valuable data that predicts the life of the pavement for heavier and more damaging traffic, specifically, articulated buses. The City of Los Angeles was an early adopter and supporter of the Superpave Mix Design Method which was used to test for permanent deformation and moisture susceptibility. Developed in a working laboratory, the Rutwheeler is used in the mix design process and the quality control process. The unique Rutwheeler design allows a standard Superpave Gyratory Specimen to rotate continuously between three steel wheels, providing three load cycles with each rotation. In approximately 2-1/2 hours of test time, they know if a mix meets the specification.