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Westfield recycling asphalt to fill potholes, save money

Posted at 9:28 PM, Feb 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-28 08:50:50-05

WESTFIELD, Ind. -- The city of Westfield is saving money on road repair by using old pieces of road to create patches for their potholes.

The city purchased a pothole machine that takes pieces of old road that would normally be recycled in a plant and turns them into hot, usable asphalt to refill potholes.

“We are always looking for better ways to attack the famous Indiana enemy number one, the spring pothole,” said Westfield Mayor Andy Cook.

Cook said they saw the idea for the asphalt recycler on the internet. Crews collect the parts of broken road leftover from resurfacing projects and use that to make the new mix to refill the city’s potholes.

With the new machine, the city can make 500 pounds of hot mix asphalt in just 20 minutes.

Cook said the machine lets the city cut out the “middle-man” and saves them about 80 percent in the process.

It’s also producing quality patches.

“I challenge our people. Hey, bring (those potholes) to us. Cause these guys can handle it all,” said Cook.

Crews in Westfield are out five days a week patching holes.

You can report potholes to the city of Westfield on the We Connect App. Each report goes directly to the crews working in the field so that they can get to the new potholes as quickly as possible. 

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