Special to the Herald

SPRINGFIELD – The Georgia Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) recently named an Effingham County road project as its 2024 Project of the Year.

Effingham County was cited in the “Small Cities/Rural Communities” category for using full-depth reclamation (FDR) with engineered emulsion on a one-mile stretch of Indigo Road.

Commissioner Jamie DeLoach accepted the trophy on Effingham County’s behalf during the chapter’s Annual Conference at the Jekyll Island Convention Center July 11.

Project quality, economic challenges, creative use of resources, environmental protection and uniqueness are a few of the criteria used in the award selection process. The Indigo Road project scored highly on all of them.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Effingham County added boiler ash to some of its dirt roads. The ash was a free alternative to buying sand to add back to them as they eroded over time.

Unfortunately, the mix of ash and sand proved to be troublesome and incohesive when water was added.

In 2019, Effingham County officials conducted a pilot FDR study on Indigo Road in an effort to fix the problem. The process included taking core samples at multiple spots along Indigo Road to determine the proper percentages of each ingredient to make sure it wouldn’t become susceptible to moisture.

The materials were ground up at a depth of six- to nine inches and reapplied with a substance consisting of water, an asphalt binder and an emulsifying agent.

The fix has held up well to traffic, including heavy trucks, for four years and the knowledge gained from the project will enable the county to save millions of dollars as it works to improve other ash roads.