Falcon Road Maintenance Equipment: Asphalt Recyclers
"Versatile Asphalt Maintenance Equipment - An asphalt hot box recycler and an asphalt hot patcher reclaimer in one!"
Falcon manufactures equipment for making routine pavement repairs (utility cuts, patches, potholes) with recycled asphalt. Repairing pavement with recycled asphalt reduces both material and labor costs. It also helps the environment.
Founded in 2004, the company was recently recognized by Inc. Magazine as the fastest growing asphalt maintenance equipment manufacturer in the United States as well as one of the countries fastest growing woman owned businesses. Municipalities in over 35 states and provinces include Falcon equipment in their road maintenance program.
There are four million roadway miles across the United States and Canada valued at $1.75 trillion1 (about $500,000 per mile); 90% are asphalt. The responsibility for maintaining these roads rests with street departments of the 59,0002 cities, towns and counties across North America and state departments of transportation. Other markets dealing with asphalt maintenance include public and private utilities, private contractors, departments of parks and recreation, colleges and universities, airports, golf courses, venues (ex. zoos, racetracks) and railroads.
Asphalt is the most recycled material in the U.S. with 3% of the roads being recycled.3 Asphalt plants are the primary recyclers, however, the number of street departments adding asphalt recycling to their road maintenance program is growing rapidly. The need to reduce costs and a desire to create environmentally sustainable communities is driving this growth. Using recycled asphalt to repair roads reduces disposal costs and landfill use, conserves aggregate and petroleum resources and eliminates the need for temporary repairs during cold weather months.
The company’s primary competitor is the unheated bed of a truck. Since asphalt begins to harden in less than 3 hours, transporting asphalt in this manner results in scrap rates and labor inefficiencies no longer affordable. In addition, this approach to road maintenance does not provide the capability needed to repair roads with recycled asphalt.
Looking ahead, state and municipal governments will struggle to deal with decreasing budgets. As funds to replace existing roads become increasingly scarce, the emphasis placed on road maintenance and preservation will intensify. Despite the financial challenges ahead, road repairs will continue. More and more, these repairs will be performed with recycled asphalt.
1National Association of Pavement Preservation
2Rand McNally Road Atlas, 2002, pages 236 to 264.
3Roads & Bridges, May 2007, Volume 45, Number 5