Tilcon-Delaware creates special asphalt mix for Dover Air Force Base

Pit & Quarry, July, 2004

Tilcon-Delaware is paving the way to help keep the 436th Airlift Wing flying high. Tilcon has created a unique, customized asphalt mix that meets precise U.S. Army Corps of Engineers standards for use at Dover Air Force Base (DAFB), home to the 436th Airlift Wing.

The customized asphalt mix is being used to pave all runways, taxiways and tarmac areas on the base. Tilcon used advanced technology and equipment to continuously monitor and test its sand, gravel and aggregate products. Its state-of-the-art lab is used to design and test new Superpave mixes, and to develop USGA-approved golf course greens-mix and bunker sands, according to the company.

"We are excited and proud that our efforts in creating this specialized asphalt mix for Dover Air Force Base will help provide the necessary infrastructure for the base to be able to perform its vital operations," says Brian Duffie, Tilcon customer-support manager. "Meeting the very precise mix specifications that the project required has been a challenging and rewarding endeavor for our team."

The unique mix requires a fine sand crucial for meeting the strict specifications by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which only allow a variance of plus or minus 2 percent on each of the sieves. Tilcon was awarded the paving contract because, the company says, its Talburton quarry is the only pit in Delaware capable of producing a sand that can meet the government's rigid requirements. The Tilcon team paid meticulous attention to specification details to achieve the required consistency in the mix, and the mix performed successfully during Tilcon's quality-control testing process.

"Our laydown crews are doing an outstanding job at the Dover Air Force Base," Duffie says. "Our crews' professional, dependable performance has been just as reliable as the performance of our mixes, giving base officials confidence that the job is being done right."