Correctly calculating the amount of material that is required to complete the project is essential to a successful asphalt paving assignment. On a paving project, asphalt paving material brought to the project site is measured in tons. You can calculate the quantity of asphalt needed to pave an area by knowing the thickness of the asphalt layer that will be placed and the density of the paving material.

  • Correctly calculating the amount of material that is required to complete the project is essential to a successful asphalt paving assignment.
  • On a paving project, asphalt paving material brought to the project site is measured in tons.

Compute the surface area to be paved. For an example, say a car park that is 100 feet by 50 feet in size requires paving. The surface area is 100 x 50 = 5,000 square feet. There are 9 square feet in a square yard, so the project area in square yards is 5,000/9 = about 556 square yards.

Confirm the thickness of the asphalt to be placed. For our example, say 3 inches of asphalt thickness is required.

Determine the density of the paving material. A typical value for estimating asphalt paving is 49.9 Kilogram per square yard per inch.

  • Confirm the thickness of the asphalt to be placed.
  • Determine the density of the paving material.

Compute the required amount of material for the paving project. For our example, paving an area of 556 square yards with 3 inches of asphalt would require:

556 x 3 x 110 = 83225 Kilogram of asphalt.

At 907 Kilogram per ton, about 92 tons of asphalt are required for this paving project.

TIP

On asphalt overlay projects, irregularities such as ruts in the surface to be paved can increase the required quantity of asphalt paving material.