District 1 LCCA Projects

Project Number	Route	Letting Date	Posted Date	Comments End	Document Links	Comments
6918-103	US 53	1/31/2025	10/8/2024	10/30/2024	6918-103 Documents	6918-103 Comments
6930-41	MN 73	12/6/2024			6930-41 Documents

District 1 Comments

SP 6918-103, US 53, Letting date 1/31/2025

Comment from Brandon Brever, Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association, bbrever@mnapa.org, 10/31/2024

Life Cycle Value of HMA:
New HMA pavement (Alternate #3) can offer better long-term performance and durability than rehabilitation options, as it provides a new pavement structure. This can result in fewer required interventions and lower maintenance costs over time, especially beneficial on a heavily trafficked route. HMA can reduce the frequency of maintenance activities compared to shorter-cycle alternatives, minimizing traffic disruptions and long-term costs.

Long-Term Performance and Reduced User Costs:
Asphalt pavements are known for their smoothness and ability to reduce wear and tear on vehicles, lowering user costs. A new HMA (Alternate #3) provides an excellent balance of cost, durability, and user benefits, making it an ideal choice for projects where user experience and reduced maintenance costs are priorities.

Environmental Benefits:
HMA pavements are compatible with high recycled content (100% of asphalt pavements are recycled), contributing to sustainability goals. Utilizing RAP (Recycled Asphalt Pavement) aligns with environmental objectives by reducing the demand for virgin materials and lowering carbon emissions associated with production.

Flexible Maintenance Options:
Asphalt pavements provide a range of flexible maintenance options that can be implemented quickly, such as overlays and surface treatments, ensuring that road performance remains optimal over time.
This flexibility allows for quick and cost-effective repairs, which is particularly advantageous for high-use roads where minimizing downtime is essential.

Resilience and Adaptability:
With climate resilience becoming a significant consideration, asphalt’s adaptability to various weather conditions and potential for innovative additives (e.g., warm-mix asphalt technology) make it a forward-looking choice.
The choice of HMA could align well with future requirements to adjust to evolving climate conditions or state and federal funding priorities that prioritize resilient infrastructure.

Considering these comments, New HMA (Alternate #3) is a cost-effective, sustainable, and resilient pavement option, supporting both immediate and long-term project goals.

Pavement Design Engineer responses 12/2/2024

"A new HMA (Alternate #3) provides an excellent balance of cost, durability, and user benefits, making it an ideal choice for projects where user experience and reduced maintenance costs are priorities."

Response: This project was originally scoped as a mill and overlay, specifically remove, and replace all the HMA over the concrete. However, the District wanted a longer life for this project. Exploring options, the Unbonded Concrete Overlay and a bituminous regrade were considered. The profile increase resulting from an UBOL fit well with the need to raise grades because the bridge replacements over TH 37 needed increased clearance. Raising the grade of US 53 near Hat Trick Avenue allowed less slope on the connecting side streets. The LCCA analysis of the two options resulted in UBOL being the low-cost alternative.

"Considering these comments, New HMA (Alternate #3) is a cost-effective, sustainable, and resilient pavement option, supporting both immediate and long-term project goals."

Response: The project does have a bituminous component with wide bituminous shoulders as well as numerous side road connections at Progress Parkway, Hat Trick Avenue, and Bourgin Road as well as Muti-use Trail connections will be bituminous. Some of these were built in 2024 (about $250,000 worth) and more are included with the rest project, letting in January 2025.