Blacktop patch.

February 4, 2010 9:56 PM

In order to install services or effect repairs, contractors will often cut through blacktop and the patch the trench. Is there a word used in the road maintenance industry to describe the patch that remains?
posted by Neiltupper to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

You can refer to it as a patch or, more formally, as a reinstatement or "trench reinstatement". The blacktop is indeed referred to as blacktop but it will more formally be known as the "wearing course", so I believe you can safely refer to a "patch to the wearing course". The stuff put back in the trench, under the top-most bituminous layer, is the back-fill, as you might expect. Civil engineers are fairly practical people who shy away from fancy names, on the whole.
posted by BrokenEnglish at 1:17 AM on February 5, 2010

The "trap to catch and maim unwary bicyclists?" (At least, that's what they should call it where I live...)
posted by kataclysm at 8:53 AM on February 5, 2010

To expand on terms, it is called a patch, and usually the interface betweent the new asphalt and the existing asphalt is called mastic or sealant. In addition, extensive patching is often sealed with a thin slurry or topped with a thin asphalt overlay (less than 2") to smooth the pavement so there isn't a lot of bumps and uneven surface. This is both for smooth ride and eliminate water ponding in low spots which destroys pavement.
posted by bartonlong at 9:58 AM on February 5, 2010