ATS Provides Mix Design and Quality Control Services for Paving of Miami International Autodrome

The Miami International Autodrome circuit required new asphalt, and to complete this complex project safely and efficiently, many industry professionals worked together. The team at ATS worked alongside South Florida Motorsports, LLC, Tilke GmbH & Co., Moss & Associates, LLC, Sunland Asphalt & Construction, LLC, General Asphalt Company and The Transtec Group, Inc. among others.

The ATS team was responsible for creating the mix design for the pavement as well as completing quality control (QC) testing on the materials. The mix design was a racetrack mix with high polymer binder. This mix used granite shipped from Georgia to ensure high friction and durability allowing for the car tires to better grip the pavement. The high polymer binder is vital to the mix providing increased durability necessary to withstand the high stresses generated by the race cars. Think about the multiple forces to the pavement when the cars are racing around the track at average speeds of 140 mph! The tires heat up and generate a high shear force on the turns; the pavement must resist movement from the force, continuous high speeds and stresses compared to an interstate, for example.

General Asphalt Company West Dade asphalt plant

The paving operation was completed in a three-wide echelon fashion. Each paving pull (lane) overlapped the other so there were no cold joints on the track. This is to inhibit any possibility of joint separation in the future.

QC tests were performed on the mix leaving the plant, and the roadway QC testing was all nondestructive; there was no coring. Test strips were paved at the beginning of the project and nuclear density gauges were calibrated to core densities from these areas.

The track is 3.363 miles long with 19 corners utilizing both new and existing roads.