Client: City of Lynnwood, WA
Product: RePlay Asphalt-Rejuvenating Sealer
In July 2021, the City of Lynnwood, Washington, kicked off a multi-year pilot project to study and demonstrate the effectiveness of RePlay – an innovative, bio-based asphalt rejuvenating sealer that extends the useful life of asphalt by 2-3 times. Inspired by a presentation by Medford, Oregon’s Chief Construction Inspector Tad Blanton, at the 2019 Northwest Pavement Management Association Conference. Blanton demonstrated how RePlay virtually arrested the aging of his city’s asphalt streets for a decade. Lynnwood Street and Storm Division Supervisor Rus Kroshko decided to try it out on a major street in his city and study its efficacy.
In his presentation, Blanton said when he first decided to use RePlay it was an “act of faith.” His goal was to maintain asphalt at the lowest life cycle cost and to that end, he was willing to try a solution that was proven to work in the harsh Midwestern winters but was new to his city. Unlike traditional sealcoat products that visibly coat the top layer of asphalt, RePlay is invisible after application. It is absorbed into the asphalt, where it works below the surface restoring polymers that bind the asphalt together. It has been more than 10 years since Blanton first applied RePlay to Medford streets. He says what began as an act of faith has grown into “a belief system” based on results that exceeded expectations.
Like Medford, the City of Lynnwood will observe Olympic View Drive in the coming years to compare how the treated area performs, relative to non-treated areas, as far as cracking and unraveling of the asphalt. The stretch of Olympic View Drive, where Lynnwood’s using RePlay, was repaved in 2009, and it was an expensive project.
The Olympic View Drive project was a full depth reclamation road rebuild that cost $10.4 million and took more than two years to construct, with significant impact to residents. Applying RePlay cost the city approximately $52,000, and application took three and a half days with minor lane closures lasting no more than a few hours at a time,” said Jared S. Bond, Lynwood’s Public Works Manager – Operations and Maintenance. “This treatment is anticipated to preserve the high quality of the roadway for several additional years, thus protecting the City’s sizeable investment in Olympic View Drive.”
Kroshko added that the application of the RePlay sealer over the 8,800 linear feet (and 272,800 square feet) of Olympic View Drive took nearly four days to complete because it’s a busy street. He said that depending upon the time of day, the sealer cured in 45 minutes to two hours, smelled like citrus and didn’t come off on tires or vehicles. He noted the thermoplastic arrows and other pavement markings looked great after, due to RePlay’s transparency.
“We are taking a survey of the cracks on Olympic View now and will monitor the street periodically over the next five years,” Kroshko said. “The repave was an overlay when it happened over 10 years ago, and it was expensive. We’re hopeful this sealer will provide not only a sustainable solution, which we especially like, but also cut maintenance costs significantly.”
Lynnwood is already planning for another roadway application in 2022.