HOUSTON, Jan. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. (NYSE: KRA), a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers (SBC) and other engineered polymers, is working on a project to support efforts to make roads more safe in New York City. As temperatures continue to drop and cities embrace wintry conditions, New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has planned ahead. With the help of Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. (NYSE: KRA), in partnership with NuStar Asphalt LLC, 53 New York City blocks, including bike paths and select bus service routes along First Avenue from 72nd to 125th Streets, have been resurfaced with a thin layer of highly modified asphalt (HiMA) that greatly improves pavement resistance to rutting and cracking ?” critical attributes for high-traffic roadways used by vehicles and pedestrians in any season, but especially in harsh, inclement weather.

HiMA technology is expected to enhance the life of New York City’s resurfaced streets. It will also help protect the city’s vital underground utility infrastructure, which is a key safety benefit. the new, smooth surface will give motorists and cyclists a much better ride and reduce noise for residents.

“Kraton Polymers is proud to be in partnership with NuStar Asphalt LLC and the New York City DOT to provide improved street resurfacing with minimal road closure,” said Bob Kluttz, senior research scientist at Kraton. “NuStar developed an innovative, one and a half inch thin asphalt overlay incorporating Kraton’s HiMA technology. This polymer-modified asphalt results in an extremely durable pavement with reduced thickness which lowers reconstruction costs and allows resurfacing of large areas within fixed budgets.”

It took the city three weeks of night paving to apply HiMA technology to 53 blocks of concrete, which allowed streets to remain open during the day versus shutting them down for several months and interrupting vital transportation systems.

“New York City DOT’s First Avenue project posed a difficult pavement design issue — place a relatively thin overlay on a 30-year-old Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement, in poor condition, to maintain curb heights and provide a tough, but flexible surface to resist heavy traffic, climate and movements of the existing street,” said Ron Corun, NuStar Asphalt’s LLC director of asphalt technical services. “NuStar proposed the use of a high-performance thin overlay (HPTO) mix developed at Rutgers University that has been in use for more than five years on various high-traffic roadways in New Jersey and has performed well,” Corun said.

“However, conditions on New York City’s First Avenue required a higher level of mix performance, so NuStar combined HiMA technology, developed by Kraton Polymers, with the HPTO mixture because of its outstanding laboratory results for both rutting and fatigue. This combined with the flawless performance of a test section placed in 2012, gave our team confidence that the new pavement would meet the city’s needs.”

The completion of New York’s $7 million resurfacing project is part of the city’s $6 billion investment in nearly 1,000 projects over the past six years to keep road infrastructure in a state of good repair. When tons of sand, salt and snow plows are factored into the daily stress and wear of New York’s heavily trafficked thoroughfares during the winter season, they will be more durable and Resistant to rutting and raveling than ever before due to Kraton’s technology.