Corrective Asphalt Materials

Corrective Asphalt Materials has sold asphalt rejuvenators since 1980 from South Roxana, Illinois, on the Mississippi just north of St. Louis. Its maltene-based products are sprayed onto aging pavement to restore the binder instead of milling and overlaying, a preservation approach agencies reach for when resurfacing budgets don’t stretch. CAM works with state DOTs and county highway departments across the Midwest and beyond, and has supported pavement research at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Rejuvenation is contested ground: there’s no agreed industry definition of what a rejuvenator has to do, and performance claims vary widely by supplier. Four decades of field data give CAM more standing in that argument than most.

On the day of work the treatment looks like a fog seal. A 60 percent Reclamite emulsion is sprayed in a single pass and penetrates up to roughly an inch into the mat, followed by a light blotter of sand or limestone screenings at one to two pounds per square yard. Traffic returns in about 30 minutes, and the screenings are swept up a day or two later. There is no milling, no paving train, no cold joint to feather into driveways and gutter lines, which is why the work fits inside a normal county maintenance window.

Where the company is unusually specific is candidate selection, and this is the part that changes how an agency budgets. Reclamite is aimed at pavement still in good condition, PCI 80 to 100 or PASER 8 to 10, and applied within one to two years of new construction, an overlay, or a mill and fill. On that schedule it can be reapplied two or three times at roughly five-year intervals across a pavement’s life. The practical consequence is that the money goes onto roads that look fine to a resident or a council member, which is the harder political sell and the reason the company’s material leans so heavily on measurement rather than appearance.

The supporting evidence it publishes is viscosity-based rather than visual. CAM cites roughly 56 to 63 percent lower binder viscosity three months after treatment, 46 to 54 percent held through three years, still about 37 percent down at nine years, and about 39 percent lower cost than conventional maintenance over the same horizon, with each application credited with five to seven added years of pavement life. Third-party work referenced includes a long-term Minnesota Department of Transportation study of maltene replacement technology, projects in Springfield, Missouri, and a comparative assessment run through a pavement lifecycle management system. Generic specification language is offered for download, which matters when a treatment has to be written into a bid document rather than sole-sourced.

Reclamite is one of four lines. CRF is a restorative seal for pavement further along its curve, JointBond targets the longitudinal joint specifically, which is usually the first thing to open on a two-lane overlay, and COHEREX handles dust control.

Coverage runs across ten states, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, worked from 300 Daniel Boone Trail in South Roxana plus CAM North at Sugar Grove, Illinois and CAM Minnesota at Lakeville. The company sells through the engineering community rather than around it, holding membership in the American Public Works Association, the Missouri Association of County Transportation Officials, the Illinois Association of County Engineers, and the Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota asphalt pavement associations.