The Clean Sweep

A VITAL COMPLEX COMPONENT OF ASPHALT STREET RESURFACING

SPECIAL TO ELGIN SWEEPERS;
AN OPERATING COMPONENT OF FEDERAL SIGNAL CORPORATION

PHOTOJOURNALISM BY GINI AND DAN MCKAIN

APRIL 2004

USA Services of Florida, Inc., with its major fleet of Elgin Eagle and Pelican mechanical street sweepers, is a specialist in providing an often overlooked service. They are an intrigal component in the complex procedure of rebuilding millions of miles of America's vital infrastructure; street sweeping!
 
It should come as little surprise to those in business who rebuild the nation's highways that the longevity of newly resurfaced streets, roads and highways may be highly dependent on having a clean solid base to begin with. The emphasis here should be on the word clean. Everyone, for instance, knows of the need for a solid base. But clean …?

Milling old asphalt and recycling it into new roadway surfaces has taken a quantum leap in the past decade and nowhere is this more important than in assuring that all remnants of the millings are swept away just prior to the installation of the tack coat and the new hot mix asphalt (HMA).

The necessity of complete sweeping up the residue left following all milling operations in urban residential areas is explained by the demands of residents for both safety and cleanliness, not dust, dirt and debris thrown on their expensive landscaping. A less intensive effort is required in rural areas where residential and traffic safety are less of a concern.
Carmine Latanza, vice president and co-founder of USA Services, pointed out that, if this sweeping step is omitted, perhaps in the guise of economy or expediency, that the remains quickly find the way back into the newly milled grooves. These fines meld in, lower the coefficient of friction and prevent a complete bonding between the fresh base, the tack coat and the new hot mix asphalt.

Without that bonding the newly laid asphalt has no opportunity of achieving its maximum predicted longevity. This was confirmed in a conversation with John S. Ball III, a highly respected New Hampshire asphalt paving consultant.

Almost every highway construction specification of every state department of transportation in the United States requires the mechanical sweeping of every foot of roadway that has been milled prior to being resurfaced with hot mix asphalt. Milling old asphalt both provides a better base for installing a longer lasting street, road or highway surface and, in recycling it, helps conserve the nation's vital natural resources.

A case in point is a 14 mile long stretch of U.S. Rte. 27 in Lake County, Florida. Orlando Paving Company, was the general contractor on the resurfacing contract. They subcontracted the milling and recovery of thousands of tons of old asphalt from the roadway to the Mill-It Corporation. Who in turn contracted with USA Services to provide one of their modern Elgin Eagle mechanical street sweepers to clean the roadway surface just prior to the repaving of the project. Orlando Paving is then following closely and putting down new 9.5mm hot mix asphalt Superpave mix.        

The Engineering Section of the State of Florida's Department of Transportation, with billions of dollars now under contract or budgeted for road resurfacing, has deemed it important enough in particular to include the procedure into its highway construction specifications.

District 2 Design Engineer Jim Pitman, PE, Florida Department of Transportation provided this excerpt from FDOT specifications:

"Operate the milling machine to minimize the amount of dust being emitted. The Engineer may require prewetting of the pavement. Provide positive drainage of the milled surface and the adjacent pavement.
 
Perform this operation on the same day as milling. Repave all milled surfaces no later than the day after the surface was milled unless otherwise stated in the plans.

If traffic is to be maintained on the milled surface prior to the placement of the new asphalt concrete, provide suitable transitions between areas of varying thickness to create a smooth longitudinal riding surface. Produce a pattern of striations that will provide an acceptable riding surface. The Engineer will control the traveling speed of the milling machine to produce a texture that will provide an acceptable riding surface.

Prior to opening an area which has been milled to traffic, sweep the pavement with a power broom or other approved equipment to remove, to the greatest extent practicable, fine material which will create dust under traffic. Sweep in a manner that will minimize the potential for creation of a traffic hazard and to minimize air pollution.

Sweep the milled surface with a power broom prior to placing asphalt concrete. In urban and other sensitive areas, use a street sweeper or other equipment capable of removing excess milled materials and controlling dust.

Obtain the Engineer's approval of such equipment, contingent upon its demonstrated ability to do the work.

Perform the sweeping operation immediately after the milling operations or as directed by the Engineer."

Another example is a milling and resurfacing project in Jacksonville, Florida that was contracted to East Coast Paving Corporation, a division of Orlando-based Hubbard Construction Co. They subcontracted the milling of SR 111 to Atlantic ______ who, in turn contracted with USA Services to provide mechanical sweeping and final wash down just prior to resurfacing the recently milled roadway. Atlantic employed two Roadtec RX-50B milling machines, a loader, motor grader and two tractor-mounted brooms for the initial milling and sweeping. USA Services provided the final sweeping with an Elgin Eagle …

Orlando-based USA Services of Florida, Inc is one of the largest companies providing this service to clients throughout the state. The firm, according to Vice President Latanza, is basically a roadway and street maintenance company. They perform the majority of their operations in Central and Northern portions of the Sunshine State. This ranges from Duval County and Jacksonville on the north to Polk County on the south.

"Our mechanical sweeping fleet is comprised totally of four-wheel Elgin Eagle and three-wheel Elgin Pelican sweepers and is applicable in either urban or rural situations," commented company president Eric Siedelman.

Also, according to Seidelman, the Orlando, Florida based company provides their services to county and city governments for a number of various operations, including sanitary and environmental concerns.

The company relies heavily, up to about 70 percent, on the Elgin Eagle broom sweepers. The reason for this large disparity is that the versatile Eagle machines have the speed and ability to keep up with prevailing traffic and posted highway speed limits. The Pelican sweepers, on the other hand, have a top speed of around 18mph and are more frequently used on large and small repeat residential projects. Orange County, Florida with its over 3,000 miles of street sweeping a month in neighborhoods and subdivisions, is a prime example of the Pelican's forte.

"The heartbeat of this company is our shop facility. If the equipment isn't constantly maintained, it isn't running and, if it isn't running, we are out of business.

The key to keeping them up and running day after day lies in a preventive Maintenance program that USA Services has developed and honed to a fine edge over the years and the mechanics who actually implement it. We have personally trained the mechanics in our shop. Most of them have from 10 to 14 years of service with us.

"Because the demands for our sweeping services happen at different times around the clock, we also have both an AM and a PM shift. Every machine that is out on the street working is thoroughly washed on its return to our yard. Then it is brought in where one or more of our mechanics goes over it, noting especially the comments on the report sheet filled out that day by the operator who was on it.

"We turn our Elgin Pelican and Eagle sweepers over on a staggered basis every three years. Our newest machines have incorporated the Elgin Global Positioning System (GPS) for a more efficient method of tracking them. As a company, we want to highlight our equipment because it is out in the public's eye everyday and a presenting a positive image is very important.

USA Services also has a roll on — roll off operation that consists of 20 cubic yard containers. These are spotted throughout the construction projects, cities and counties where ever the Elgin Pelican and Eagles are working. The Elgin broom sweeper trucks are all high dumps capable of emptying their loads directly into the containers for later disposal.