Project Summary

Paving represents a significant cost for transportation infrastructure in the State of Maine. With a low population density and high road density, the State of Maine has significant paving needs. The adverse climate conditions across the diversity of environmental conditions in the state leads to a variety of issues for the durability of pavement. Currently, pavement aggregates are sourced from many local and regional aggregate vendors, and very little information exists regarding the mineralogy of pavement aggregates used throughout the state for paving projects. With increasing costs over recent years and decreasing pavement durability, it is essential to characterize the mineralogy of pavement aggregates in order to evaluate its durability. The purpose of this project is to characterize the mineralogy and texture of pavement aggregates from the primary aggregate sources currently in use by MaineDOT. These data will be used to investigate the relationship between pavement durability and the mineralogic properties of the source aggregates, in order to inform future decisions regarding pavement aggregate sourcing.