Bowers Asphalt & Paving Inc., Lays The Foundation For Paving Excellence
A great road is literally the bottom line for a business. When it’s done right, you don’t notice the road. You just experience a feeling of smooth coasting to your destination. Serving the Toledo, Lucas, and northern Wood counties, Bowers Asphalt & Paving Inc. has provided that feeling of comfort to their customers. What is the foundation of this pressing societal need? A brief history of road paving sets the stage and the road – all puns intended.
When Paving Roads Began
According to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Association, ancient roads date back to 4000 BC. These roads in Mesopotamia undergirded the cities of Ur and Babylon. The discovery was made possible by the architects of old. Imagine how sturdy these roads were to be discovered thousands and thousands of years later! These construction workers used identical mud bricks to build the roads. Once the mud dried, they would take the bricks to the site and place them together, binding them with a material called bitumen. Bitumen is something that is still used today. According to thought company.com, bitumen was used as early as 40,000 years ago.
Bitumen occurs in nature or upon the distillation of petroleum. It is a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons. There is really little difference between what we know as tar and bitumen. Bitumen occurs naturally or can be manmade, while tar is only processed by man. Both are used today as part of the road paving process.
How Do You Get Bitumen?
The Encyclopedia Britannica informs us that modern natural bitumen is derived from oil sands and pitch lakes. There is also refined bitumen that is produced upon the distillation of crude oil.
A Rocky Road Was Made?
Archaeologists find that bitumen was also used for repair of many daily used items of the ancient world. However, the difference is that the bitumen used for road paving was intentionally made smooth, while the bitumen used to repair daily items was left as is. The ancient people did not try to smooth or remove the appearance of a repair. At any rate, though the roads were passable, they were not nearly as smooth as what we enjoy today.
It’s Not As Simple As A Paved Road
Early times included roads that were made entirely of crushed stone and bitumen. More sophisticated roads included several layers in order to make drainage possible. It was important that the bitumen was water soluble so it would not be destroyed by the weather. Even today, you will notice at a construction site the many layers of roads that preceded the one you drive on. Imagine the potholes of yesteryear when a whole area of crushed stone and bitumen was out of place!
Everything Can Crumble If The Road Is Wrong
Understanding how roads were made in ancient times affords a better understanding of modern roadways. Bowers Asphalt & Paving Inc. has been in business for over 70 years. This experience leads to a better understanding of how to provide quality paving services. Bowers Asphalt & Paving Inc. is a family-owned company that proudly serves customers within a 20-mile radius of Toledo, Ohio. In the beginning, there were only simple repairs and projects completed by one pull box. This was in 1946. Only simple asphalt repairs, driveway paving, and seal coating could be completed. However, this laid the foundation. Today, that single pull box has morphed into an extensive fleet of vehicles. Through the years, Bowers Asphalt & Paving Inc. purchased a 3000# asphalt batch plant as well as asphalt mills to gradually but surely establish the company as a leader in the region.
It all begins with a solid foundation which is provided for each and every customer.
