Bangor has a snazzy new peace of gear to keep the pot holes at bay, even in winter!

Maine winter without fail busts up our roadways. The cold weather makes fixing those nasty craters even harder. Crews have to buy preheated asphalt to make repairs, but after a few hours it hardens and is unusable. That cold patch also gets caked to vehicles as they drive over the temporary fix. This will now be a thing of the past!

Monday night Bangor City Council unanimously approved the purchase of an asphalt recycler. Its expected to cost $130,000.

The device will equip public works to reheat unused asphalt the city normally piles up and returns it to suppliers. The suppliers use it to make more asphalt, however not in winter. With the ability to reheat the (what would be useless) asphalt, crews will be able to apply permanent pothole fixes year-round!

Because of the big purchase, the city also reduced the department’s asphalt budget by $30,000. All is well though! Big long-term asphalt savings are on the horizon thanks to the purchase. Recycled asphalt costs about $40 per-ton. Cold patch cost $110 per-ton.

The new recycler is being purchased from Central Equipment in Old Town and due to arrive in a few weeks.

More From WWMJ Ellsworth Maine