Steve Hass, Proprietor of Hass Construction, has been responsible for township road maintenance for over 30 years. Stanchfield Township (Minnesota) is one of the many townships his company maintains roads for.
Steve and the township officials wanted to improve a section of 381st Avenue that crosses a peaty, swampy area. This swamp crossing is 15-20 feet lower than the sandy knolls on both sides of the swamp. The solution is to elevate the valley, to make the roadway easier and safer, improve driving safety for the area’s residents by leveling out this particularly bad area, and reduce the historic issues with frost heaving and flooding.
“Elevating the valley by approximately 8 feet makes for a smoother and safer ride, and protects the surrounding land,” said Monte Niemi, CEO of TDA Manufacturing in Isanti, Minnesota.
Tire-derived aggregate (TDA) was chosen as the lightweight aggregate fill for this project due to its interlocking “snowshoe effect” – where the pieces weave together, helping to spread the weight of the driving surface over the soft the organic soils under the current road.
TDA possesses a standing beneficial use designation in Minnesota, which means that it can be used as lightweight fill without a permit (when used in accordance with MPCA directives) for any road construction project that is managed by a professional engineer.
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