Products & Services: Overview

Aggregates

Aggregates and asphalt are some of the most essential raw materials in the construction industry today. Aggregates in particular have an astounding variety of uses. From the roads we drive on to bridges, bricks, concrete, wallboard and roofing tiles - all utilize aggregates. Every town and city and the roads and highways connecting them were built and are maintained with aggregates.  

Aggregates are increasingly being used to protect our environment too. Soil erosion-control programs, water purification and the reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions from electric powerplants are just a few examples of environmental applications of aggregates.

Aggregates are produced by quarrying naturally-occuring rock deposits. In the case of APAC Mid-South these are granite and limestone. Rock is extracted by carefully controlled blasting, then crushed and graded to produce stones of different sizes which are used for different types of application. For instance the type of aggregate used in concrete or asphalt will be a different size to the material used in pipe bedding or erosion control.

Asphalt

Asphalt pavement material is a precisely engineered product composed of about 95 percent stone, sand, and gravel by weight, and about 5 percent asphalt cement, a petroleum product. Asphalt cement binds the material together.

Asphalt is an increasingly sophisticated material. Pavements being built today can be engineered to meet a variety of needs – for less noise, greater durability, enhanced skid resistance, reduced splash and spray in rainy weather, and a smoother ride than ever before.

To find out more about how our asphalt is made click here for our comprehensive guide.

Construction Services

Our core business is asphalt paving but we also offer a full line of construction services including base, grading, drainage and minor structure concrete. Please visit the Construction Services page in this section for more details.

To find out more about the asphalt laydown process click here for our comprehensive guide.

America's Number One Recycled Product

Asphalt pavement is 100 percent recyclable and reusable and according to a recent report by The Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA/EPA) asphalt is America's number one recycled product.

When an old asphalt road surface is removed from the road it is reclaimed, crushed and graded to produce Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement, known as RAP. RAP is added to new asphalt pavement ingredients to reduce the amount of asphalt cement and other materials required. When RAP is used in this way, the asphalt cement in the old pavement is reactivated, becoming part of the 'glue' that binds the new pavement together and reducing the amount of new asphalt cement required.

Of the 100 million tons of asphalt pavement reclaimed every year, about 75 percent (75 million tons) is reused for new pavements. Another 20 percent of RAP (20 million tons) is recycled into other highway uses. 

To learn more about asphalt please visit the National Asphalt Pavement Association's (NAPA) site at www.hotmix.org and the Asphalt Pavement Alliance's site at www.asphaltroads.org.

Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA)

Another way in which the asphalt industry is 'going green' is in the introduction of Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA). According to the National Asphalt Pavement Assocation (NAPA), WMA is the wave of the future. NAPA defines warm mix as 'the generic term for a variety of technologies that allow producers of hot-mix asphalt pavement material to lower the temperature at which the material is mixed and placed on the road.'

Such reductions have the obvious benefits of cutting fuel consumption and decreasing the production of greenhouse gases. Other benefits include better compaction on the road, the ability to haul paving mix for longer distances and the ability to pave at lower temperatures.

This new 'green asphalt' was developed in Europe and has been heavily used there for the last 10 years. It has piqued the interest of industry associations in this country, especially NAPA and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and over the last two to three years it has been growing in popularity here. APAC Mid-South has begun working with warm mix asphalt recently.

Based on field data and laboratory studies, it is clear that warm mix is the future of our industry.

To download Oldcastle Materials award-winning brochure on warm mix asphalt click here.

To learn more about WMA please visit NAPA's website www.warmmixasphalt.com.