CEDAR RAPIDS  – The asphalt poured to make a new entrance road at the Prairie Park Fishery Thursday may look the same, but it’s got some paving industry officials excited.

Crews from L.L. Pelling Co. were pouring WMA or “warm mix asphalt,” which goes  is made at temperatures of 245-250 degreees fahrenheit versus 310-315 degrees for conventional

That may not sound like a big deal to motorists, but it’s a big benefit to the environment, according to LL Pelling President Chuck Finnegan.

WMA was pioneered in Europe. It uses a chemical called  Evotherm from Meadwestvaco, which keeps it viscuous and flowing at lower temperatures than regular hot mix asphalt.

The lower temperature has a surprising number of environmental implications.

During Thursday’s pavement work, the lower asphalt temperature wasn’t at all evident because the air temperature of about 95 degrees was itself scorching. The odor of hot asphalt appeared less strong than usual, however.

“You’re running it at a lot lower temperature,” said Aaron Bigleman, an applications technician for Meadwestvaco Corp. in North Charleston, S.C. “You’re not burning all those hydrocarbons off, and you don’t get all the blue smoke you ordinarily see when you’re pouring hot asphalt.”

Bigleman said this week’s paving project in Cedar Rapids is one of the first commercial uses of WMA in Iowa, if not the first. He said the asphalt industry is typically slow to change.

“Iowa’ just starting to catch on with everything, and we’re starting to pick up the pace with these things,” Bigleman said.

A freshly poured section of the entrance to the parking area at Prairie Park Fishery off Otis Road in southeast Cedar Rapids. The road is one of the first in the state made with warm mix asphalt, which uses a chemical called Evotherm that allows it to be worked at lower temperatures. (photo by Dave DeWitte/SourceMedia Group News)

Finnegan said LL Pelling’s asphalt plant will use 15 percent less fuel because it won’t need to heat the asphalt as much.

Emissions of volatile organic compounds from the plant’s smoke stack will be reduced by 50 percent to 90 percent, L.L. Pelling officials said.

WMA is also believed to make it easier to use recycled asphalt pavement, saving money for owners and contractors by reducing the need for petroleum and other materials.

Because it can be worked at a lower temperature, the WMA may help LL Pelling extend its paving season by as much as a month, Finnegan said.

“When you’re in a climate where your season is just from May 1 to Nov. 1, an extra month is pretty big for the bottom line,” Finnegan said.

LL Pelling had never used WMA on a commercial asphalt paving project before, Finnegan said.

“We are grateful to the City of Cedar Rapids for letting us use it on this particular project,” Finnegan said.

WMA is currently a bit more expensive than regular asphalt, Finnegan said. He believes WMA will become less expensive than regular asphalt as more customers demand it, because in addition to requiring less fuel to heat, it should reduce costs for compaction equipment.

LL Pelling also used recycled shingles and recycled asphalt  in some of its paving at the fishery, an abandoned sand quarry being redeveloped into a public fishing attraction along the Cedar River.