Cape Seal Roadway Surfacing Treatments

Louisiana’s US Route 84 was suffering from extensive pavement wheel path rutting and shoving. To correct the problem, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) provided a budget of $2.25 million to execute repairs for the 17.5-mile length of road. 

For years, the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts had maintained its streets with a program that consisted of mill and overlay and reclamation, along with crack sealing as necessary. But Town Engineer John Livsey has never been a fan of letting roads go until they need major repair, and over the past five years, his team has introduced a number of pavement preservation techniques into its overall program, including micro surfacing and fog sealing. In August 2016, the Town initiated cape sealing, testing the technique on one street with 21,867 square yards of treatment.

Victoria, Australia utilizes pavement preservation techniques for higher quality roads, supporting heavy traffic, with a lower project cost. 

Like many of our nation's rural highways, Logan County Highway 25 was not only showing signs distress accumulated over its 40-year life, it was a safety concern for the traveling public with its narrow driving lanes.  Restricted by available funding to construct to federal standards with traditional rehabilitation options, the Logan County Highway Department utilized Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) to widen the pavement to the desired width and used a cape seal treatment as a surface course to safely carry traffic until additional funding becomes available.

Cape seal was the treatment of choice to extend the service life of a 32 lane mile section of SR-260. By utilizing this treatment over the alternative solution, the agency was able to save $3 million, freeing up funds to treat more miles.