- Company: C.J. Miller, LLC
- Industry: General Building
- Location: Owings Mills, Maryland
- Expected Completion Date: October 2016
- Project Website
Foundry Row is one of the largest porous paving projects on the east coast. In this particular project, we were able to recycle crushed concrete from the previously existing site (a Solo Cup Manufacturing Facility) to create a porous asphalt parking lot with a stone reservoir. Porous paving is designed to absorb water into the asphalt where it will be naturally filtered through a stone base before the water completes its natural cycle into the soil and eventually to streams and other waterways. To the average person, the most noticeable benefit of porous paving is the elimination of runoff and the lack of standing water when they step out of their car into their parking space.
What impact does this project have on America?
With this project, we not only incorporated recycled material, but we were able to reduce runoff, clean storm water and promote groundwater infiltration to replenish aquifers. This project was written up in the March-April 2017 issue of “Asphalt Pavement,” a publication of the National Asphalt Pavement Association, to highlight porous asphalt with a stone reservoir as an Environmental Protection Agency Best Practice and to show others in the industry the potential and possibilities with regard to porous paving. This project has been of interest to our colleagues and prospective customers because of its ability to reduce their stormwater footprint with a product that is a cost-competitive alternative to traditional asphalt. The Foundry Row project as a whole has helped boost economic development and is a welcome asset to the community.
What interesting obstacles or unusual circumstances did you overcome to complete the project?
Undertaking a project of this scope, where C.J. Miller was responsible for constructing the berms, placing the geotextile, placing the stone reservoir and choker layer, and paving both traditional asphalt and porous asphalt, was challenging, but nothing out of the normal high standards of C.J. Miller personnel. A particularly interesting obstacle was incorporating the use of the 59,000 tons of recycled concrete from when the former building on the site was demolished. Some of the material also was utilized as a subbase to the eventual porous paving of the project. The balance was used as a subbase to the nonporous segments of paving. The project design called for a specific amount of material and all of it had to be screened and sorted before the components could be placed in the appropriate mix, which was a tedious undertaking. C.J. Miller completed this by running double shifts around the clock.
What dangers and risks did you encounter, and describe any extraordinary methods used to keep workers safe?
During the road expansion portion of this project we were working within 30 inches of a double barreled 120KW oil-cooled electric transformer. There are significant fines if you so much as scratch the paint on this, and it was located in the last seven inches of a six-lane road on which we were working. All the work had to be coordinated through Baltimore Gas & Electric, Miss Utility and county inspectors and done at night. There was a significant amount of coordination required to work around those electric lines.
How did you leverage new technologies to work faster and reduce waste?
In order to complete the work as efficiently and quickly as possible, we paved an aisleway of traditional asphalt and then had the paver move down the aisleway to pave the porous segments. In addition, because underwater reservoirs were incorporated into the design, we were also able to develop 100 percent of the site rather than use additional space for stormwater ponds.
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