SAN JOSE, CA Calvac Paving, an asphalt and concrete maintenance company in San Jose, California, was recently hired to perform much-needed upgrades to a parking lot at a medical center in Menlo Park. In order to give people a behind the scenes look at the construction process, Calvac Paving has posted a new video and blog to the company's website.

As President Jim Adam noted, Calvac Paving designed this project as a removal and replacement of the existing asphalt surface because the base below the asphalt had become unstable, which led to depressions, puddles and potholes in the surface.

Based on the conditions, the existing asphalt had to be removed and the baserock was graded and compacted. The old asphalt was then hauled off to be recycled and new pavement was placed over the recompacted baserock.

Since the medical facility is open for business on weekdays, Jim Adam said Calvac Paving had to complete the removal, replacement and striping in one Saturday.

"Once the grade had been established and the baserock compacted to comply with industry standards and project specifications, we placed fresh hotmix asphalt in two 2" layers, or 'lifts,'" said Adam. "Compacting the asphalt in lifts as it was placed created an end product that is more durable, less prone to cracking, potholing and other problems seen with asphalt paving. Once the second lift was placed, and we fog sealed the surface, we then had to layout and stripe the parking lot up to current ADAS and California building code requirements for correct access to the building and parking areas."

The finished result was a smooth and puddle free parking lot that is ideal for driving and pedestrian use. The Calvac Paving team removed and replaced more than 150 tons of hotmix asphalt in a single day.