MnDOT District-3 Large Stone Base Field Review

A field review was done to investigate three roadways that incorporated a strong stone base or Scandinavian design built in central Minnesota (Mn/DOT District-3). These were initially built though a partnership with Mn/DOT and Finland where Gary Niemi (now retired D-3 engineer) visited Finland and brought back these designs to Minnesota in the late 1990’s. The whole idea of a large stone base design is to gain the strength or support for your roadway through the unbound base materials and have a relatively thin asphalt layer that can be milled and recycled at a lower cost while still preserving the underlying base materials. The top asphalt layer is not designed to carry the traffic loadings.