What are the Basics of Bituminous Paving?
Bituminous concrete is a mixture of asphalt cement and well-graded aggregate, compacted when hot into a densemass. On very small jobs bituminous concrete can be placed by hand and compacted. Typically, though, a self propelled paving machine places the mix, controlling paving depth, width and surface. Paving machines can be rubber tire or track, the rubber tire machines have a tendency to spin tires in soft sub-base and sometimes get stuck. The hot mix is delivered to the project in covered dump trucks. Some paving machines have the hot mix dumped directly into a hopper, which is then augured back to the screen for placement. Other paving machines pick-up bituminous concrete dumped onto the sub-base like a self-loading scraper. The hopper paving machines are more common than the self loading paving machines. The Paving Contractor must determine the paving widths and joint locations. This decision will be based on available equipment and manpower and must include any specific requiremen
