City may look to lithify its streets

The City of Jacksboro is the first in Texas to consider a newer road building process.

Accelerated lithification uses a combination of chemicals, called LithTec, combined with moisture and compaction to turn reclaimed road materials into a road foundation. The company producing it claims it is many times stronger than traditional cement.

Bob Sherwin, a representative from Lithified Technologies, presented information on the product to the Jacksboro City Council at its July 22 regular meeting.

The council, along with County Judge Keith Umphress and Pct. 2 County Commissioner Gary Oliver who also attended the presentation, were interested to learn more about the technology which Sherwin said is stronger, more flexible, longer lasting and much cheaper.

“It costs 20 cents on the dollar of what it would cost to do asphalt roads,” he said. “And you can’t tell the difference. It’s not a soil stabilizer. It’s turning soil into stone. It changes soil at the molecular level.”

It was the company’s first presentation on its product in the state of Texas. Based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sherwin’s presentation included photos of projects in California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. 

The company has been using the process since 2011 with a liquid version of the chemicals. They now have a powdered form. Lithified would do soil tests for each road and formulate the mix depending on the substrate’s make up.

Sherwin said it’s cheaper than gravel roads as well because it eliminates the need for rock aggregate.

“It takes 98 truck loads per mile of a standard county road. This is very green. It’s using what is there. We recycle in place,” he said.