San Antonio schools install 340,000 square feet of Porous Pave
The North East Independent School District (NEISD), San Antonio, Texas, used Porous Pave XL to install ADA-compliant walking tracks at 44 elementary schools. Made in the U.S.A., Porous Pave XL is a highly porous and durable paving material made with 50 percent recycled rubber chips and 50 percent aggregate mixed on site with a liquid binder. The 9-foot-wide, 675-foot-long, walking tracks provide an outdoor recreation resource for the schools and nearby neighborhoods.
PROVEN MATERIAL NEEDED
“The project required a surface with superior flexibility so that serviceability cracks, caused by horizontal or vertical movements of the underlying soils due to expansion and contraction, would not create problems,” says Jorge Cabello, senior director, construction management, NEISD. “In addition, we needed a workable and proven material that we could use both to construct new walking tracks and to overlay existing asphalt tracks which had excessive ‘alligator’ cracking.”
According to Dave Frazier, engineering sales manager for GeoSolutions, Inc., a regional leader in ground stabilization, earth retention, and erosion control, Austin, Texas, Porous Pave was a good solution for both paving the new tracks and refurbishing the damaged ones. “The recycled rubber chips give it sufficient flexibility to expand and contract without cracking. The rubber content makes it non-slip for safety, too,” he says. “For the existing tracks, the material adhered to the asphalt and filled in and sealed the numerous cracks.”
2-YEAR PROJECT
R.L. Rohde General Contracting, Inc., Adkins, Texas, and Jerdon Enterprise, L.P., Stafford, Texas, were the primary contractors on the 2-year paving project. “All contractors bidding on the project were required to attend an on-site training class and get certified as an installer,” says Randy Rohde, project manager for R.L. Rohde. “This was our first time using Porous Pave. Once we figured out how to scale up the installation process, we could install each track in a day.”
The 37 new walking tracks have a 2-inch Porous Pave surface paved atop a 6-inch base of #57 crushed stone with an underlying geogrid system installed over the substrate. Drainage is provided by strip drains with 4-inch PVC pipe. The tracks feature integrated 6-inch header curbs and accessible connecting pathways. As a pour-in-place paving material, Porous Pave easily conformed to the curves the contractors established in the tracks with bendable form boards. To repair the seven previously installed asphalt tracks that had developed severe cracking, the contractors poured a 2-inch top coat of Porous Pave over the old asphalt.
WHAT IS POROUS PAVE?
Porous Pave is a highly porous, durable and flexible paving material consisting of chips of recycled rubber, aggregate and a liquid binding agent. Porous Pave is a pour-in-place permeable paving material with 27 percent void space and superior permeability for stormwater retention. It offers exceptional versatility for a wide variety of applications—including sidewalks and walkways, courtyards and patios, pool decks, tree surrounds, trails and cart paths, and golf course bunker liners. Its durability has been proven for more than a decade in installations across North America.
For more information
Porous Pave is an eco-friendly green building product made in the U.S.A. by Porous Pave, Inc. in Grant, Michigan. For more information about Porous Pave and technical data, plus examples of successful applications for permeable paving, visit www.porouspaveinc.com.
Modern Contractor Solutions, June 2019
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