Fairfield County, South Carolina, maintains more than 400 unpaved, dirt and gravel roadways totaling approximately 250 miles. Like many rural counties, Fairfield has a limited budget. Transportation Committee Chairman Mr. James McGraw, formed a collaborative team of citizens, county staff, and private consultants to implement a paving program that would provide adequate roads for transportation while utilizing tax payers’ dollars in the most efficient manor.

In addition to the costs surrounding the maintenance of the roads, the citizens faced dust, debris, and other problems associated with unpaved surfaces. These issues range from the inability to operate school buses as well as emergency and postal vehicles during inclement weather due to the washboard effect - a pattern of traverse ruts and erosion, produced by vehicular traffic. McGraw’s team collaborated and agreed that full-depth reclamation (FDR) with portland cement, designed by Dennis Corporation, would be the most beneficial technology to solve these problems and ensure a better quality of life for Fairfield County residents.

FDR with portland cement is an efficient alternative to the traditional, often burdensome and costly, method of full reconstruction, which requires completely ripping out the old, worn out roadway and replacing it from the ground up. By mixing cement with old roadway material, FDR recycles the old, unsafe or inefficient roadways into a strong foundation. There is no need to haul in aggregate or haul out old material for disposal, reducing construction truck traffic, vehicle emissions, fuel consumption and waste. FDR conserves virgin construction materials thereby reducing construction costs. All of these benefits do not even account for the fuel savings and emissions reduction associated with a drastically reduced construction time versus conventional reconstruction.

By using this process, the county could upgrade 2.5 miles of road for every 1 miles of asphalt pavement, at the same price – a cost savings of approximately $110,000 per mile.

A growing number of residents noted the success of the roadways’ rehabilitation and issued more requests for similar projects. McGraw continued to reiterate the benefits of FDR to Fairfield communities, increasingly strained infrastructure and its residents. Not only does FDR serve as an economic and environmental solution, but it also provides citizens with lower home owner’s insurance premiums, increased property value, potential for future economic development and the continued growth of the local logging industry. Approximately 250 homes are located on the roadways improved by the project. Much of the year, homeowners in this area kept their windows and doors open all day long. The large amounts of dust from the unpaved roads were settling on home exteriors, and entering the home through open windows causing health concerns. Local resident, Jerry Nealy, stated, “This process has had a tremendous health benefit for me due to the elimination of the dusty conditions.”

Fairfield County and Dennis Corporation’s project were featured in various publications, such as Roads & Bridges Magazine and The Herald Independent fortheir innovative and environmentally sound construction techniques to improve the rural roads. In addition, Dennis Corporation and Fairfield County received the Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association’s (ARRA)annual national award, Roads & Bridges Magazine’s first annual award for Recycling Projects, and the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) Engineering Excellence Award for the state of South Carolina.

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