The Southern Ute Indian Tribe just installed their first LithTec Road at the Sky Ute Fairgrounds. The Full Depth Lithification (FDL) process began Monday, Aug. 16 by grinding up the existing failing asphalt road directly into the base layer and recycling the material in place, rather than hauling it off to a landfill or recycling plant, which adds significant costs to the project. Under the road they found a lot of cobble or large rocks that were removed in preparation for the LithTec application.
Lithified Technology US, LLC is a Santa Fe, N.M. based company that produces customized LithTec formulas. Every road project is pretested in their Geo-Technical labs prior to installation to insure a successful project. There is a saying in road construction that… “Road wear from the top and they fail from the bottom.” Typically, an untreated base course would measure 25,000 psi in a resilient modulus test. The LithTec treated base achieves a minimum of 500,000 psi modulus, which is the same strength as asphalt. This enables road designers to reduce the thickness of the asphalt by 50% to 67%, which saves the entire project 30% to 50% through Value Engineering. Rural roads can apply a chip seal surface on top of a LithTec base, which provides an all-weather surface that looks and performs like asphalt for 75% – 80% less than the cost of an asphalt road.
The “Accelerated Lithification Technology” replicates a process in nature called Lithification, which turns soil into stone over thousands of years, when certain naturally occurring minerals are present along with heat, pressure and time. For example, sand turns into sandstone and clay turns into slate. LithTec accomplishes this soil to stone process in as little as 24-hours by using the same naturally occurring minerals along with a proprietary blend of high-performance ingredients.
The LithTec formulations are environmentally friendly and look like a gray powder that is applied to the road base material with a spreader truck, then mixed into the top 8” with a Reclaimer to accomplish an even distribution of product into the soil. The road materials are then compacted at Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) with a 12-ton Sheepsfoot roller, then finished off with a smooth steel drum roller. The LithTec was installed on Wednesday and on Thursday and Friday the LithTec treated base will be finished off with a double Chip-Seal surface on top.
If you would like more information on this breakthrough technology, please call Johnny Valdez, CEO – AAGM-LithTec, at 970-799-1580 or visit our website at www.LithTec.com.