OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — At city council, a public hearing and vote will take place as Omaha looks to update their public works standards. In this, new specifications for cement and additives that could improve city streets.
- At the Peter Kiewit Institute, 3 News Now spoke with UNL engineer professor, Marc Maguire to learn about how these city standards might help Omaha streets.
- The city wants to update their cement mix criteria to help prevent breakage in the roads.
- They want to adopt state standards that all projects will follow going forward if passed.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The city of Omaha is looking to update their public works standards. This will help with improving the lifetime of city streets and preventing potholes. 3 News Now is looking into the science behind these proposed standards by talking to the experts.
Based on statewide research led by the Nebraska Department of Transportation, blending a combination of materials into cement can help prevent our roads from breaking up.
To find out more about how the new city standards might help, we spoke with UNL engineering professor, Marc Maguire. He tells us this damage is caused by a chemical reaction caused in part by the type of aggregate material used in the mixture.
"And that creates an expansive reaction. That expansive reaction then causes cracking that you will ultimately see as kind of this map cracking or alligator-like, alligator skin cracking," said Maguire.
A new additive would prevent that reaction. It includes fly ash, calcined clay and slag to mitigate breakage ultimately making the concrete stronger.
"Instead of having something that lasts maybe 15 years we might have something lasting longer, 25-30 years."
But it won't help fix some of the existing potholes on Omaha streets.
"These specifications are not geared towards helping old concrete as much as they are helping that new concrete that we put down," said Maguire. "It's really more of a preventative measure."
Maguire says the new standards could mean less tax money spent on infrastructure.
"It'll also streamline things like contracting and approvals and specifications and a lot of the business aspects of infrastructure repair."
The city street department tells me all projects will follow these standards moving forward.
A public hearing and vote will take place at city council this week.
