The NCDOT is responsible for maintaining a vast amount of highway and roads across North Carolina, totaling more than 80,000 miles. Pavement preservation techniques including Asphalt Surface Treatment (AST) or “Chip Seal” are a critical component of NCDOT’s maintenance operations. Effective pavement preservation serves to improve motorist safety and extend pavement life, resulting in life-cycle cost savings over time.
In 2016, the NCDOT elected to transition its pavement preservation program to private sector contractors. SEPI supported the NCDOT through this mission-critical step by developing an Asphalt Surface Treatment (AST) or Chip Seal Best Practices Manual for use statewide.
The Chip Seal Best Practices Manual serves as a resource to train both private contractors and private inspection firms in the methodology of AST, one of North Carolina’s most successful treatments for road and highway system preservation.
After developing the Chip Seal Best Practices Manual, SEPI provided several training seminars in multiple locations across NC. This training helped facilitate an extensive transfer of knowledge from NCDOT personnel to contractors assuming the role of delivering AST techniques. The training also provided application and knowledge uniformity to contractor field personnel responsible for performing the AST operations on North Carolina’s highways.
