Tack Coat Sprayer
- Pavements
Innovation
Tack is an asphalt mixture that promotes bonding between old, weathered roadway surfaces and new pavement; it also can be useful in filling potholes.
However, mixing, transporting, and applying tack manually had always been a slow process for the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH). Crews had
to take the tack to job sites in five-gallon buckets, mix it onsite, and apply it to potholes using paint brushes or brooms. Using less than $200 worth of materials from their shop—including a metal drum, gas valves, and water hoses—the Division created a tack coat sprayer that allows workers to mix, haul, and spray up to 55 gallons of tack.
Benefit and Implementation
The device has made it more efficient to fill potholes, and additional units have been fabricated for other WVDOH maintenance crews.
