Contractors and public works officials at the National Pavement Expo in Nashville, Tenn., were introduced to a system developed to improve ride quality and extend the life of asphalt roads and highways, without repaving.
The Roadmaster Ride Quality Improvement System was demonstrated at the nearby Music City Motorplex (Nashville Raceway) by Champion Motor Graders and its development partners.
The flagship of the system is Champion’s new Roadmaster RP626 asphalt profiler, a piece of road finishing equipment that mounts a 6-ft. (1.8 m) grinder cutting head under the front frame of a Champion C60 motorgrader. The RP626 asphalt profiler smooths asphalt surfaces by grinding away any bumps and irregularities within tolerances of .12-in. (.3 cm) or less.
The complete three-step Roadmaster system follows up the smoothing process with a sealer to fill any remaining cracks in the surface and then applies a rejuvenator that restores life and resiliency to old asphalt.
Bryan Abernathy, Champion’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the Roadmaster concept is an ideal fit with Champion’s existing product line.
“When Jim Wasson and Charlie Freeburn brought this idea to us, we could see right away that the system could be a real advantage to our customers. They had done their homework on how the smoothing, sealing and rejuvenating process could save millions of dollars for municipalities and counties every year,” Abernathy said.
He said maintaining ride quality at a reasonable cost has become a challenge for planners and contractors.
“Our graders have been a valuable tool for safe and affordable road maintenance for 25 years. Now we can offer a new solution that goes even further to reduce costs for taxpayers,” Abernathy said.
With a background in maintaining asphalt runways for military airports, Wasson collaborated on developing the Roadmaster concept with Freeburn, a specialist in finishing the paved surfaces for drag strips and race tracks. The pair first built their own version of the RP626 profiler before showing the idea to Champion.
“Charlie and I took a hard look at the range of prime movers available to support the cutting head we were working on,” Wasson said. “We recognized that a grader chassis was the right place to start for fine road work. We were committed to having a fully hydrostatic drive for low-speed control and efficiency, so that narrowed the field considerably. Then when we started looking at hydraulic systems, manufacturing quality and engineering capability for the final product.
“Champion really stood alone. The support and enthusiasm they brought to the project proves to me that we made the right choice for bringing the system to the market.”
Wasson said customers in the motorsport market have been more than impressed by test results on their tracks.
“At 200 miles per hour,” he said, “small bumps in the road make a pretty big difference in performance and safety.”
But for public roads and highways, the practical value of the Roadmaster system is in the cost savings in the restoration of paved roads and in extending their useful life.
“Refinishing the existing road surface with the Roadmaster system is significantly faster and lower in cost than resurfacing or rebuilding the road. We have been completing two lane miles of roadway in a single eight-hour shift, including the sealer and rejuvenator applications. Contractors and maintenance crews can do the job with less equipment, less material and, compared to other methods of road improvement, there’s almost no disruption to traffic,” Wasson said.
According to Wasson, improved ride quality is a major factor in the lifecycle of a road surface. A smoother road results in reduced wear and less impact from the vehicles that drive on it. Meanwhile, taxpayers get the added value of a safer, more comfortable ride that reduces fatigue, improves fuel efficiency and minimizes wear on their vehicle.
“I couldn’t believe the difference,” Abernathy said. “The first time I drove straight onto a Roadmaster test strip from a normal stretch of road, it was like night and day: less vibration, quieter — just a silky smooth ride.”
Champion’s engineering department, under Chief Engineer Jeff McKee, is continuing to refine its design of the RP626 asphalt profiler while the prototype is in demonstration.
“We are still looking at its power requirements for optimum speed and efficiency,” McKee said. “We expect to upgrade our standard engine to the 200-horsepower range to supply power for both the hydrostatic drive and the cutting head.
“We are also looking at alternative configurations for double-wrap and triple-wrap cutting heads, which could lead us to even higher levels of productivity. This is a very exciting project for Champion; a truly unique innovation in the road maintenance industry.”
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