At a press conference Thursday, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Lincoln Transportation and Utilities (LTU) Director Liz Elliott introduced a new way to repair and maintain the city’s streets designed to extend the lifespan of roads, reduce the time of street closures, and save tax money.
PressurePave preserves asphalt streets up to 10 years by injecting a crack sealant into pavement while simultaneously applying a thin asphalt overlay. Elliott stated that Lincoln will use PressurePave on streets that have “deteriorated past the point of simple maintenance efforts but are not in poor enough quality or condition to require more extensive repairs” such as removal and installation of the street’s top layer (mill and overlay).
Mayor Gaylor Baird also sang the process’s praises. “PressurePave enables us to proactively extend the life of our streets at one-fifth the cost of a more in-depth street improvement project, while completing the work in a fraction of the time and resulting in minimal disruption to residents and businesses,” said Mayor Gaylor Baird. “This innovation is truly a win-win-win.”
PressurePave has already been used on the capital’s streets. In just four days, more than four miles of residential streets were worked on in the Meadowlane neighborhood between O and Vine streets, and North 70th and North 84th streets. The Fox Hollow and Crown Pointe neighborhoods near Van Dorn Street between South 70th and South 84th streets. Overall, the process cost just $550,000. Elliot said a more conventional mill and overlay project would have cost over $3 million dollars and taken 10 weeks to complete.
Lincoln is the first city in Nebraska to use the process, and LTU is planning at least one additional PressurePave project in 2023. Locations have yet to be chosen.