From Left: Brady Meldrem -President, Norris Asphalt, Donn Eide, Kevin Mahoney, IDOT, Highway Division Director at APAI Convention Award Ceremony  held at West Des Moines Marriott  December 2	Calhoun County Project  photo used for Smoothness Award

     Score one more for the Manatt’s team!  Newton Division that is.  They waltzed away the APAI Smoothness Award in the Secondary Road Re-Surfacing category for the best IRI (International Roughness Index).  Donn Eide accepted the award during the December Convention. 

     What’s the secret?  Steve Armstrong, Project Superintendent, replied, “ There really is no one thing.  It is a combined team effort.  It starts at the plant with steady flow of trucks to the project in timely and safe manner so that the material is the optimum temperature and mix.  Great equipment that is well maintained always plays a part.  Above all, it’s the skilled people that take pride in their work to make sure everything is just right that gets the job done.”  The total project was approximately 33 miles and utilized 70,000 ton of asphalt.

     IRI is measured at speed (50-55 mph) and has a direct correlation to ride quality.  Measurements are taken over the entire job, not just a sampling.  Roughness is an important pavement characteristic because it affects, not only ride quality, but also fuel consumption, and maintenance costs.   A smooth road will last longer and require less repair, thereby utilizing your tax dollars more efficiently. 

     A device called the South Dakota Road Profiler, which is mounted on the front of a vehicle, utilizes lasers that  measures the changes in vertical pitch over a distance.  The readings are taken for each wheel path at  intervals of .64 inches.   That is approximately 99,000 readings per wheel path, per mile!  The measurements are then averaged to come up with the index.  This measurement is done by the IDOT and is the most accurate measurement of roughness.

     The Calhoun County job’s IRI was .60 meters per kilometer.  To put that number into perspective, the next closest IRIs were .65 and .66 and the highest IRI was 1.28 out of all the projects entered.  In short, not only did we exceed spec requirements, we set the standard!  Great Job!  A big thank you goes out to everyone involved in this project: Plant Crew:  Curt Chambers, Jeff Henderson and Don Henderson.   Laydown crew:  Denny and Jeff Pfantz, Bill Armstrong, Brent Barfield, Matt Gordish, Tracy Heishman, Robert Lemke, Jeremy Miller, Dick Pagel, Craig Probasco,  and Juan Velazco.  Quality Control:  L.D.Clarke, Jeff Jenkins and Brad Kalsten. Project Supt: Steve Armstrong.