News Archive

Ahhhh…summer!  Sunny days, picnics in the park and orange barrel obstacle courses on the highways.  That’s right, we’re talking road construction.  All across the U.S. fresh asphalt blankets our interstates, highways and local roads.  So what does all this have to do with augers? 

Well for one, augers enable the asphalt to be laid faster, smoother and more precisely.  For instance, road crews are required to put down a total of 10 – 11 inches of asphalt and depending on the size of the project could involve as much as hundreds of thousands of tons of asphalt.  Their boss wants them to keep the paving train moving non-stop which improves the quality of the road.  We want them to keep moving to give us that smooth ride and open up that second lane so we can get to our destination faster.

The asphalt pavers that are used to lay down the asphalt can have augers in one or two places.  Some pavers have variable pitch rotating augers inside the asphalt storage hopper that help to draw the asphalt into the augers and remix the asphalt from all areas of the hopper.  By constantly reblending the asphalt, there is a more consistent flow and quality of asphalt being delivered to the spreading auger.  As an added benefit the augers do not breakdown the asphalt and eliminates any segregation of the asphalt components as it sits in the hopper. 

Once the asphalt leaves the hopper it is fed to the asphalt spreader.  The asphalt spreader usually has two augers that feature independent speed control, which allow the operators to control the feed of asphalt to each side of the screed. 

 So as you travel the roads and highways this summer, may your encounters with orange barrels be few and your ride smooth and fast thanks to all that augers do.