The World's Most Recycled Material

Exploring the complexities that go into the creation and application of asphalt concrete.

Of all the ubiquitous things in our environment, roads are probably one of the least noticed. Our roads see tremendous volumes of traffic and withstand considerable variations in weather and climate, and they do it on a pretty tight budget. That’s really only possible because of all the scientists, engineers, contractors, and public works crews keeping up with this simple but incredible material called asphalt.

Writing/Editing/Production: Grady Hillhouse
Editing and Direction Help: Wesley Crump

This video is sponsored by HelloFresh.

[willmcconnell]

To everyone "debating" the level of detail in this video. He is using plain english to introduce you to a complex topic/industry so the general public can have a better **basic** understanding of what goes into the engineering of roads. The point of many of his videos is just to give you a bit to interest you and for you to look up more on your own. Even if things were generalized to a point they aren't 100% true, he gave an excellent highlight of information about the topic that people devote years of their life to. Making complex things simple enough for the average person is not easy and I respect him a lot for taking the time and energy to do so.

[mikewalding]

I’ve been in the road building business for 40 years in Florida and just wanted to say this is the Simplest explanation of building roads I’ve ever seen. Great Job

[CKOD]

"The average person makes several trips to various places on a given day" Whoa now, easy with that 2019 thinking.

[stevemattero]

Ever so slowly, this series is making me less pissed about road repairs

[DadBodGod]

One of life’s pleasures is traveling on a fresh paved road.

[Tdubs]

As an Electrical Engineer, I never thought anyone could get me excited hearing about Civil Engineering stuff. Glad to be proven wrong. I have been enjoying all of your videos. Thank you :)

[jscancella]

My first job after college was as a construction inspector for roadways. The one thing I learned is that if you don't get the sub base correct, doesn't matter how good the asphalt is it will crack and be bumpy. I wish my local town would understand this, and stop just resurfacing the roads when there is clearly sub base issues (alligator cracking)

[lappinrappin]

I love how you concisely explained the differences between Roman road use and our use of roads today in relation to their perceived lifetime. I will remember that.

[ThatRedHead]

God, i love this channel. I can go back 4 years and be sure that ill get a video that is just as high quality as what we see today. Same format, same music, same expertise and genuine joy coming through the camera. Never stop Grady. You're one of the best!

[WaffleAbuser]

Another advantage of asphalt: its color. When driving on a light gray concrete asphalt road while facing the sun, it can be really difficult to see the lane dividers. It's scary...

[MrBiky]

"I will always be there for you when you fall" - Asphalt.

[allwinds]

In the early eighties a friend who worked as a chemical engineer for the Illinois Tollway Authority. He was asked to create a asphalt binder that would last 5-8 years (presumably so they could justify the tolls). He said he could design chemistry to withstand decades in the Chicago area but that's not what they wanted.

[Leanzazzy]

As an actual civil engineer, I am amazed at the level of detail and how much information you have included in your video. You broke down a complex topic and still made it interesting enough for the general public to watch and understand.

[Nighthawkinlight]

I'd like to see a video from you on various recycling methods, possible solutions to the lack of domestic recycling (or ways it exists that you may not expect) etc... I've wanted to make a video on the subject ever since learning that shipping labels are non recyclable, which is pretty outrageous considering they're impossible to peel off in one piece. I'm not qualified to know what I'm talking about concerning industry practice so it would be nice to hear from someone who is. I've taken to burning all my cardboard to heat my barn as that seems more useful than rotting away in a dump.

[saucedog]

As someone who’s been paving asphalt in a dump truck for over 2 years now this video was really interesting to watch !

[patience__]

This is teaching done right, I didn't even see that it was 11 minutes long, yet I learned things about roads, which I thought where boring as hell

If only all teachers could teach like this

[suryahr]

I just completed 2 years of masters degree in pavement engineering. I wish I was introduced to the course like this at the first day of college. Awesome video! Every point he tells casually has lots of research behind it 👌

[TomsLife]

"how much traffic do you expect?"

New Jersey: ALL OF IT

[TheImmortuary]

Asphalt gets such a bad reputation in the areas of the world that see more free/thaw cycles, but really there is no better, more versatile, more recyclable, and durable material for road building, hands down.

[jg]

I used to work at a road recycling and grinding company it was pretty cool to see. On the front end you have a tanker full of A/C tar mix, behind that is a Wirtgen 1050 Grinder that pulverizes the existing road to depths up to 300mm, a hammer mill that completely grinds up all the old material and also mixes with the tar I mentioned earlier, and that shoots into a hopper on the paver at the very back. This is all followed by a few double steel rollers and rubber tire rollers for compaction and smoothing. It’s quite a delicate process as you have to make sure everything is being mixed to the right percentage of aggregate:tar, road width, road crown and grade, and compaction. I even got to take samples and send them to AME so the engineers can assess old roads for new projects, and newly paved ones we just did to check compaction, moisture, and mixture.