Concrete, The Best Choice for Your Pavement Project

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The way that your parking lot or driveway looks is going to say a lot about the building accompanying it.

If your residential driveway is beaten up and cracked, your neighbors and visitors aren't going to think highly of your property. If your parking lot is in shambles and full of potholes, customers may lean toward another business.

There are so many advantages of using concrete parking lots and driveways. Keep reading to learn more.

The Advantages of Concrete Pavements

Concrete is one of the best materials that you can select for your parking lot or driveway. Below are some points to consider when choosing between concrete and asphalt for your paving project.

Concrete

  1. Longer product lifecycle (30+ years) means fewer repairs or replacement.
  2. Concrete is environmentally friendly. Its production and placement are not energy intensive.
  3. Concrete pavements are “cooler”; their light color reduces heat retention.
  4. Lighter colored concrete pavements require less lighting to illuminate a given area.
  5. Concrete is considered a “rigid” pavement and can evenly carry heavy loads (trucks, boats, etc.).
  6. Resistant to oils and other petroleum-based liquids.
  7. Concrete can easily be constructed in a variety of shapes and colors.

Asphalt

  1. Requires regular sealing to keep the pavement flexible, increasing the overall cost of pavement ownership.
  2. “Hot mix” asphalt production and placement requires tem-peratures that exceed 200 – 250 degrees F.
  3. Darker colored asphalt pavement absorb the heat and pro-duce greater surface and ambient temperatures.
  4. Darker colored asphalt pavement may require 33% more lighting for a given area than concrete.
  5. Asphalt is considered a “flexible” pavement and is subject to defects such as rutting and washboarding under heavy traffic.
  6. Easily deteriorated by gas, oil, anti-freeze and other com-mon chemicals.
  7. Asphalt does not offer a variety of creative construction options.

When you consider what material to use, the question is not why concrete? It's why not?

Concrete, It Just Makes Cents!

If you're ready to start the process, reach out to us today!

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PACA's Online e-Learning Center

The program is delivered in one (1) module and it should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.  You will receive a certificate of completion once you pass the quiz. The bookmarking feature will allow you to leave the course and resume where you left off when you return.

The Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association (PACA) is the industry’s unified voice, representing more than 200 member companies across the state.