Engineering Resources
Asphalt Calculator
Estimate the asphalt pavement tonnage required for your job using our Asphalt Calculator.
Asphalt Paving Design Guide
Prepared by the Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association to assist you in understanding asphalt pavement design and construction.
Technical Specifications
For the most current specifications, check out the Mn/DOT bituminous home page.
MnDOT Bituminous Manual
MnDOT Manual, signed 04-05-2019 by MnDOT Paving Engineer Curtis Turgeon.
Pave Express
The PaveXpress Scoping Tool is a simplified pavement design tool to help engineers and pavement decision-makers analyze pavement structures and create technically sound structural designs.
PAVING A BETTER FUTURE
IT'S TIME TO RETHINK ASPHALT
94% of paved roads in the US are surfaced with asphalt, but the production process and corresponding safety measures remain a mystery to most. Our goal is to help explain and demystify the world of asphalt and asphalt production. Hear from leading industry experts on how the number one material in asphalt is waste product, and about the new technology that has been implemented to increase production while decreasing emissions, improving performance, and reducing fuel consumption. Learn why living near an asphalt production plant comes with as little risk as living next to a fast food restaurant, and how asphalt roads greatly decrease risks to drivers and their vehicles. Discover how these multi-generational family owned and operated asphalt mix plants help build the infrastructure that connects America. And most importantly of all – rethink asphalt.
SAFE AND SMOOTH
BETTER TRACTION
When compared to other pavement types asphalt roads provide the most traction for motorists making them safer to drive on. This is because of the variety of course and fine aggregate going into the mix causing more friction between the road and the tire. This friction is why a majority of NASCAR tracks are asphalt pavement. Asphalt mixes are continually being evaluated and worked on by industry engineers to provide the safest roads possible. Additionally, because asphalt is permeable, rainwater can go through the top layer and drain out to the side of the road, eliminating 95% of spray and splash and greatly decreasing the odds of a car hydroplaning.
HOW DO POTHOLES WORK
ARTICLES AND FLYERS
The Economic Value of Pavement Overlay Alternatives
The majority of the US highway roadway system has been completed for many years, thus requiring agency resources to be focused on maintaining and rehabilitating existing pavements. Economic analysis of pavements must consider initial costs, design life, maintenance costs over the life of the pavement and salvage value at the end of its life-cycle. This case study examines five pavement rehabilitation methods for asphalt roadways using equivalent 20-year pavement overlay designs in contrast to the 40-year life cycle designs traditionally used for new construction and full-depth reconstruction. These designs will be judged under the scrutiny of the economic value of the pavement from the beginning to the end of the 20-year pavement life-cycle.
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- AGGREGATE POP-OUTS (June 2023)
- PAVEMENT RATING SYSTEM FOR ASPHALT (June 2006/Updated March 2009 and June 2012)
- WARM MIX ASPHALT IN MN (July 2011)
- 20 REASONS TO USE ASPHALT (July 2011)
- THE ASPHALT ADVANTAGE (April 2011)
- PAVEMENT DISTRESS – SLIPPAGE CRACKS (Revised – July 2010)
- CAUSES AND CORRECTIONS OF REFLECTIVE CRACKING (April 2010)
- RUBBLIZATION: A COST-EFFECTIVE OPTION (November 2009)
- USES OF SALVAGED BITUMINOUS MATERIAL (May 2008)
- ASPHALT PAVEMENT HELPS WAL-MART KEEP PRICES LOW (September 2007)
- ASPHALT IS STILL THE BEST VALUE (May 2007)
- DRIVEWAY REMINDERS (June 2006)
- ASPHALT PAVEMENT IS THE CHOICE FOR HEAVY LOADS (April 2006)
- LONG-LIFE PAVEMENT (July 2005)
- ASPHALT PAVEMENT IS SUPERIOR ALONG THE NORTH SHORE! (September 2004)
- ASPHALT PAVEMENT AT THE STATE FAIR (July 2003)
- PERPETUAL PAVEMENT: TIME HAS COME (May 2003)
- THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY (May 2007)
- CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF AN ASPHALT DRIVEWAY (Aug 2006)
- ASPHALT – THE STRONG, QUIET PAVEMENT (October 2004)
- ASPHALT PAVEMENT IS GRAND AT THE STATE FAIR (August 2004)