The Magazine of the Asphalt Institute
Summer 1997 Vol. 11, No. 3

Architectural Splendor with StreetPrint

by Tim Murphy, Asphalt Institute

District Engineer For years architects have been trying to find a way to produce a laid-brick street without actually laying the bricks. They tried a variety of materials, but with limited success. Then Integrated Paving Concepts, Inc. (IPC) of Victoria, British Columbia, developed StreetPrint, a revolutionary asphalt texturing system that replicates the appearance of hand-laid brick.

The IPC system works because its licensed applicators ensure a good foundation to build on and around 92 percent compaction prior to placing the template on the hot-mix asphalt. IPC ensures that the colored acrylic emulsion is properly applied to the surface of the compacted asphalt for both beauty and to prevent oxidation.

No Joints, No Water

Unlike a brick pavement, StreetPrint has no joints where weeds can grow or water can infiltrate, and you can build it for approximately 50 percent less than you can lay the bricks. Since StreetPrint came on the market in 1993, over 8 million square feet of finished product has been placed worldwide by 270 authorized applicators.

The Asphalt Institute got involved with the product after several large cities inquired about it. Most cities plant grass or install hand-Iaid bricks in parkways, the space between curbs and sidewalks. Maintenance for both grass and bricks is expensive. Public Works engineers were looking for a less costly alternative. They asked the Institute if placing asphalt in parkways would be a feasible maintenance solution.

Gallagher Asphalt of Thornton, Illinois, quickly saw the potential market for StreetPrint. Charlie Gallagher envisioned StreetPrint capturing the lucrative driveway market and filling the need for a decorative material in parkways when he first saw it demonstrated at ConExpo in 1993. Realizing the product could open a potential niche market, Gallagher Asphalt quickly signed on with IPC to be a distributor of StreetPrint throughout the central U.S. Gallagher began marketing the product to many small contractors, who, in turn, brought it to municipalities of all sizes in the central and midwestern states.

Variety of Uses

“The market seems to be unlimited” says Gallagher. “Not only can we use it for streets in historic areas of Chicago, but we can also use it for ornamental biking and walking paths, and to beautify business districts- especially in the parkways. We can use it for new or overlaid driveways. We have seen business double since we began aggressively marketing the process to more contractors.”

The process is not just an anomaly, it has an infinite number of uses. Word about this new look is spreading quickly, according to Tom Scholl, president of Scholl Paving, an authorized applicator of the StreetPrint process. The product is creating interest around the world.

Scholl was invited to spend several days in Tel Aviv, Israel, last summer to demonstrate the process. The largest StreetPrint project ever done, 150,000 square feet of paving, took place there with Scholl in charge. The project included several major streets and intersections and was done in 110 degree heat. The Israeli government was pleased with the results. To show their appreciation, they gave Scholl a tour of Jerusalem on his final day in Israel. McDonald's and The Bulls The StreetPrint process involves rolling a welded steel cord template into the pavement surface after the hot-mix asphalt has been completely compacted but before it has cooled. Dozens of templates currently exist and many more are being developed for today's customers. Templates can even be personalized so that customers have their family or company name imprinted on the StreetPrint surface in heavily traveled areas. Some current users include McDonald's; Texas Department of Transportation; Chicago Bulls' players; various Ford Dealerships; Dayton, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and White Plains, New York. The ability to compliment the many existing patterns has been accomplished by IPC through the continued refinement of the coating system. The coating system uses prescribed amounts of acrylic, epoxy, portland cement and silica sands and a new sealing membrane product. There are dozens of colors to choose from. Applicators now foresee five year resealing cycles as the norm for lightly traveled uses and a longer resealing cycle for walking paths and no-traffic areas. The product has been used in a variety of climates and continues to perform well under wide ranges of temperature.

Many municipalities and architects that desire to cut costs, reduce maintenance efforts and provide an aesthetically pleasing look to their communities will use StreetPrint. Applicators believe that StreetPrint's lower cost coupled with the public's desire for beauty will lead more communities to specify the product. That opens another viable market for asphalt.