COVER STORY | ADVERTORIAL
THE EVOLUTION OF PRESERVATION
Above: The modern Patcher 4 mastic melter for patching large pavement distresses.
Below: In 1983, Crafco opened its second manufacturing plant in Halls, TN.
50 YEARS
T he first roads in America were little more than dirt paths through the wilderness— a far cry from today’ s engineered roadways capable of handling incredible loads and traffic volumes. Likewise, the first attempts at pavement preservation were rudimentary, but today the industry is driven by advanced science and independent testing. Prior to the 1970s, pavement preservation was in its infancy. Asphalt was cheap, so some jurisdictions saw little incentive to
How pavement maintenance became cutting-edge.
maintain roads instead of fully replacing them. There was limited agreement regarding best practices, and materials and methods varied widely. Crack filling often involved materials like sand, tar paper, unmodified asphalt, or even wood blocks. Maintenance typically focused on ride quality over structural integrity, and treatments that made a road feel smoother initially would often accelerate deterioration. In 1952, the standards organization now known as ASTM International published ASTM D1190
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