Earning Ride Smoothness Bonuses Through Strategic Highway Paving Methods

Highway paving contractors face constant pressure to balance speed, cost, and quality on every project. One often overlooked aspect that can significantly boost a project’s bottom line is the pursuit of ride smoothness bonuses. These performance-based incentives reward contractors who exceed specified smoothness tolerances, adding as much as five percent or more to the contract unit price. The recent Oregon Mainline Paving project on the US 97 realignment in Redmond offers an outstanding case study in how methodical planning, the right equipment strategy, and careful mix design can come together to earn maximum smoothness incentives. This article examines the key decisions and techniques that allowed the contractor to capture roughly $250,000 in bonus payments while delivering a high-quality perpetual pavement on a major highway bypass.

Breaking Down the US 97 Redmond Bypass Project

Oregon Mainline Paving, based in McMinnville, Oregon, took on the paving portion of a large-scale highway realignment project that diverted US 97 around the business district of Redmond. As reported by For Construction Pros in their coverage of the Oregon Mainline Paving project, the contractor moved 463,000 cubic yards of embankment, installed 10,000 feet of drainage pipe, and placed 140,000 tons of aggregate base before any asphalt paving began. The scale of site preparation underscores an important point for any paving contractor: smoothness on the finished surface begins long before the paver arrives.

Oregon Mainline Paving placed approximately 110,000 tons of ODOT Level 3 12.5 mm dense-graded Superpave hot mix asphalt to build an 11-inch-thick perpetual pavement structure. The project called for a divided four-lane full-depth asphalt roadway as part of a larger $90.4 million transportation investment managed by the Oregon Department of Transportation Region 4. Because the bypass was constructed on a new alignment rather than over an existing road surface, the paving crews enjoyed the distinct advantage of a traffic-free work zone. This factor alone had a measurable impact on the quality of the finished ride surface.

• Total project value: approximately $25 million for the paving and highway realignment scope
• Four-mile bypass around the City of Redmond, serving 35,000 vehicles daily
• Full-depth asphalt pavement constructed in four lifts
• Three-inch base and binder courses with a two-inch wearing course
• Perpetual pavement design specified by ODOT based on life cycle cost analysis

With 90 percent of its annual revenue tied to ODOT projects, Oregon Mainline Paving is a contractor that understands state specifications intimately. The company produces roughly 500,000 tons of HMA annually through three portable plants, giving it the flexibility to respond to project demands across the state. For the Redmond bypass, this vertical integration meant the paving crew had consistent control over mix quality from production through placement.

Understanding Ride Smoothness Specifications and Bonus Structures

State transportation agencies increasingly tie contractor compensation to measured pavement smoothness. Understanding how these specifications work is essential for any contractor looking to capture additional revenue through quality performance. The project life cycle phases that govern specification development directly influence the smoothness criteria written into paving contracts. In the case of the US 97 project, ODOT established smoothness price adjustments using a Profile Index method.

Here is how the smoothness bonus structure worked on this project:

The bonus applied only to the wearing course material placed in the travel lanes, which meant the top two-inch lift needed to perform well above specification. Oregon Mainline Paving achieved full bonus on both ride smoothness and density requirements. Matt Seehawer, general manager for Oregon Mainline Paving, noted that their ride smoothness numbers came in below the allowed deviation spec while also hitting the required 92 to 93 percent density target. In a competitive bidding market, this $250,000 bonus represented a meaningful contribution to overall project profitability.

Contractors who understand the full construction project scheduling methods and best practices for on time delivery are better positioned to plan their paving operations in ways that optimize smoothness outcomes. The connection between production scheduling and quality outcomes is often underestimated by paving crews who prioritize tonnage over ride quality.

Echelon Paving as a Strategy for Quality and Production

One of the most significant decisions Oregon Mainline Paving made on the US 97 project was the decision to pave in echelon using multiple pavers simultaneously. With as many as four Blaw-Knox pavers on the project at any given time, the contractor was able to place adjacent lanes and shoulders in a coordinated sequence that improved both production and longitudinal joint quality. The echelon approach allowed crews to hot-lap adjoining lanes before the mix cooled, creating a monolithic mat that performed better under the profilometer.

The benefits of echelon paving on this project included:

• Better longitudinal joints between mainline travel lanes, reducing smoothness deviations at the joint interface
• Ability to extend screeds into turning lanes and expanded areas, eliminating longitudinal joints entirely in some sections
• Continuous production rates of 4,500 to 4,800 tons per 10-hour shift on mainline lifts
• Reduced roller pattern requirements using only three or four IR double-drum vibratory compactors

To support the echelon paving process, the contractor used a portable CMI counterflow plant with a 100-ton storage silo capable of producing 450 to 500 tons per hour. Belly-dump trailer trucks deposited windrows of HMA in front of pickup machines that transferred the mix into the paver hoppers. This logistics chain was critical because maintaining a consistent material feed kept all four pavers operating at uniform speeds, which directly translated to a more consistent mat surface.

Without traffic concerns on this new alignment, paving crews were able to focus entirely on placement quality. They constructed a 10-foot-wide outside shoulder and a 7-foot-wide inside shoulder along the concrete median barrier, all of which were paved in coordination with the mainline work. The ability to pave without lane closures, flaggers, or traffic control interruptions is a luxury that most mill and fill projects cannot offer, but the principles of coordinated multi-paver operation can be adapted to many highway paving scenarios.

Material Selection and Mix Design for Perpetual Pavements

The full-depth asphalt pavement on the US 97 bypass was designed as a perpetual pavement structure, meaning the pavement is intended to last indefinitely with only periodic surface renewal. ODOT specified this design approach based on life cycle costs, location, and anticipated traffic loading. In Central Oregon, east of the Cascade Mountain Range, asphalt has historically performed well against the wear caused by studded tires during winter months, making it the preferred pavement type for this climate zone.

The pavement was placed in four lifts with specific binder properties for each layer:

• Three 3-inch base and binder courses: PG 64-28 AC, half-inch aggregate dense mix with lime additive
• Top 2-inch wearing course: PG 70-28 AC binder, half-inch aggregate with lime additive
• Mix design called for 6.5 percent binder content (rich mix design)
• Lime used as anti-stripping agent to prevent moisture damage
• Up to 30 percent RAP was permitted but virgin materials were used due to lack of available RAP

The contract required a rich mix design at 6.5 percent binder, which provided additional durability and flexibility in the pavement structure. Lime additive served as the anti-stripping agent, an important consideration in a region where freeze-thaw cycles and winter moisture can compromise asphalt-aggregate bond. While the specification permitted up to 30 percent reclaimed asphalt pavement, the contractor used all virgin materials since this was a new roadway with no existing pavement to recycle. The use of a stiffer PG 70-28 binder in the wearing course provided additional resistance to rutting and thermal cracking in the surface layer.

The relationship between mix design and smoothness is often underestimated. A consistent, well-graded mix that places and compacts uniformly across the mat creates fewer surface irregularities. When mix properties vary from load to load, the paver screed responds differently, introducing undulations that the profilometer will detect. Oregon Mainline Paving’s control over their own mix production through their portable CMI plant was a key advantage in maintaining the uniform material properties needed to achieve the bonus threshold. Similar results have been documented on other projects where material transfer vehicles helped maintain mix consistency, such as the Shelly Sands project that earned maximum smoothness bonus with a material transfer vehicle.

Conclusion

The US 97 Redmond bypass project demonstrates that ride smoothness bonuses are achievable through deliberate planning across every phase of the paving operation. Oregon Mainline Paving combined a traffic-free work zone with echelon paving techniques, consistent mix production, and careful attention to density requirements to earn approximately $250,000 in bonus pay. For contractors looking to improve their own smoothness outcomes, the lessons from this project are clear: invest in proper site preparation, coordinate multiple pavers to eliminate cold joints, control mix quality from production through placement, and understand the specific bonus criteria in each contract. The factors considered before undertaking a new construction project should always include a detailed assessment of incentive opportunities and the operational adjustments needed to capture them. In a competitive bidding environment where profit margins are tight, performance-based bonuses offer a meaningful pathway to improved returns on every paving job.