American Pavement Preservation is in the process of placing an Asphalt Crack Seal material in the cracks on existing residential asphalt streets for the City of Las Vegas and City of North Las Vegas.  We at American Pavement Preservation enjoy working for these two agencies and assisting them with their management of their Asphalt Pavement surfaces.

The asphalt pavement in the picture below is an older street in mature neighborhoods with normal street cracking in the asphalt for the age of asphalt street.   Some of the cracks in the asphalt pavement surface are ½ in and ¾ of an inch in width, wide enough to allow water and debris into the cracks in the asphalt pavement underlying base materials and cause issues and damage to the asphalt pavement surface.   The City is wise in managing their asphalt pavement preservation with doing the crack seal application at this time to prevent the water and debris from getting into the asphalt surface cracks and causing damage.

Water is an enemy of asphalt pavements, both on the surface of the asphalt as environmental and as a hardening concern. Additionally, water can get in the base materials that support the asphalt surface and like making mud the base becomes unstable and cannot support the asphalt, as well as the load of vehicles and trucks driving on the asphalt surface.  Asphalt surfaces can fail if the supporting base under the asphalt pavement surface becomes wet and unstable. Wet asphalt base materials cannot support vehicles and heavy garbage trucks in residential areas.  When the base is wet and unstable from water flowing into the open unsealed asphalt cracks the asphalt will crack more and most likely sink and create what we refer to as a pot hole in the asphalt surface.  No one wants a pot hole or cracks so the best method of prevention is to crack seal the asphalt as cracks appear.

Please note it is important to use the right crack seal material for our hot Las Vegas climate.  A less expensive asphalt crack seal material or material from a colder climate such as Utah or California, that is not made specifically for our hot summers can become soft and sticky. Ultimately leaving a sticky mess on car tires and the bottom of your shoes.  We use a material specific to each municipality’s specification designed to endure the hot summer days of the City of Las Vegas or Henderson City. With the asphalt pavement surface temperatures over 170 degrees, the correct asphalt crack sealant material becomes critical.  The proper asphalt hot rubberized crack seal material will be applied with a hot rubber asphalt crack seal machine and an experienced American Pavement Preservation crew.