Ruston Paving warns superintendents to prepare for wet subgrades this winter

Ruston Paving is urging construction superintendents to plan now for saturated subgrade as forecasters watch for a strong El Niño this winter. The company says treating wet soil in place can save schedule time, reduce trucking and keep paving projects moving.

Why it matters: - A wet winter can stop a job site for weeks if subgrade absorbs water and will not compact. - Soil stabilization can keep work moving, preserve the paving window and avoid costly undercut-and-replace work. - The approach matters most when rain pushes projects into colder weather or into the next season.

What happened: - Ruston Paving is advising superintendents to prepare now for a potentially strong El Niño, often called a “super El Niño.” - The company is telling crews to treat saturated soil in place instead of waiting for the ground to dry out or hauling it away. - Ruston Paving says the message is aimed at construction sites facing saturated subgrade this winter.

The details: - Strong El Niño winters have historically brought above-normal rain to much of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, including Virginia and North Carolina. - Farther north, winters often run milder, which can turn more precipitation into rain instead of snow. - Once subgrade takes on too much water, it stops acting like a foundation. - Wet subgrade pumps and ruts under loaded trucks. - Material placed on top of wet subgrade will not hold grade. - On many sites, work stops until weather dries the ground out. - Low areas, clay soils, poorly drained cuts and spots that ponded after the last storm are the first places a wet winter will shut down work. - Mapping problem areas now and testing the soil lets crews specify binder and treatment depth before the site is under pressure. - The conventional fix is undercutting, which means excavating wet material, hauling it off site and bringing in stone. - Undercutting works, but it adds trucking costs, imported aggregate costs and spoil disposal. - Soil stabilization takes the opposite approach by mixing a binder into the wet soil with a rotary mixer to a specified depth. - Common binders include quicklime, lime kiln dust and portland cement. - Quicklime reacts with water, consumes free moisture and gives off heat that drives off more moisture. - Ground that could not be compacted in the morning can often be compacted the same afternoon. - In clay soils, lime also reduces plasticity and increases bearing strength. - Cement stabilization creates a bound layer that can serve as a structural working platform. - Soil stabilization keeps material on site and trucks off the road. - Ruston Paving says the approach protects the paving window by keeping the platform workable through wet months. - A parking lot or site package that loses two weeks at the start can push paving into colder weather or the following season. - Ruston Paving was established in 1943 and is 100% employee-owned. - The company operates in Syracuse, Rochester and Watertown, New York; Northern Virginia and Richmond, Virginia; and Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. - Ruston Paving provides commercial paving, parking lot repair and replacement, and asphalt milling.

Between the lines: - The warning is less about the storm itself than the damage rain does below the surface, where schedule risk and cost overruns build. - Treating soil in place can turn a delay into same-day progress, which is valuable when winter weather limits flexibility. - The emphasis on keeping soil on site also points to a simpler logistics plan with fewer trucks, less hauling and less wasted material.

What's next: - Superintendents facing wet sites are being urged to identify weak areas before winter weather arrives. - Ruston Paving says early testing and planning can determine whether a project needs stabilization, undercutting or another fix. - Don Barry, Ruston Paving’s director of business development, said crews can often treat the soil, compact it the same day and leave the owner with better ground than they started with. - Barry also said the expensive option is doing nothing and losing the season. - More announcements are published in the Ruston Paving newsroom.