Different colored Asphalt in States

[roadman65]

Florida differs by region.  The Panhandle has a different color than the Peninsula.  The Peninsula uses a grey type, even though its black when applied.  However, in Orlando since milling the old asphalt, the colors now are much darker after exposed for years to the elements.

[MikeCL]

In Georgia and the Carolinas, with the high granite content in the aggregate, you can see sparkles in the pavement when the sun hits it just right.

Tennessee has that as well.  One thing I've noticed with East Tennessee asphalt is that it seemingly never fades.  It takes years for a freshly-paved section of road to bleach into even dark gray.

I wish roads would stay mostly dark

[Road Hog]

Not asphalt, but I remember as a kid that Mississippi chip-sealed its roads extensively with reddish-pink gravel.

[CapeCodder]

Is it just me, or does Missouri use very large rocks in their asphalt aggregate?

Yes. When those SOB's come loose and hit your windshield...

[sparker]

Many of the roads in NE California display a distinctive reddish-brown tint, since the asphalt mix utilizes local clays, which have a high iron content (simply look at the sides of road cuts in the region).  Back in the '80's, much of I-80 from Auburn to Colfax was repaved with a similar asphalt mixture and also displayed that particular tint. 

[Rothman]

In southeastern ID, they use red lava as a melt treatment.  Turns everything red and sticks to your wheelwells, but supposedly does not have the corrosive quality of typical salt treatments.

[rarnold]

Better question is why does Florida's asphalt start out black and then turn white after a few years?  I always thought it was the sun bleaching it, but I have seen some paving projects use a different texture asphalt that retain the black colore even after 20 years.

Of course back to the OP, not all states are standard state wide either.  FL is red textured in the Panhandle while the main Peninsula is the black that turns white.

The difference in color comes from the gravel used. If the rock has more iron in it, you get red asphalt. If the asphalt is more limestone, the black fades away to reveal a whiter-looking asphalt. I figured this out going to North Central Idaho where the gravel is mostly granite from the area, which is a pewter color so it always looks black, but it too even fades over time.

Concrete would do this as well except the portland cement used in the mix and the sand help to keep the color lighter.

[SD Mapman]

The difference in color comes from the gravel used.

To quote an interesting example, they did a resurfacing in the area a couple years ago using two different quarries for the gravel and you could clearly see that the asphalt from one was slightly redder than the asphalt from the other.

In this case the color changed (only slightly) within the same project.

[mrcmc888]

Newcastle County DE and the Lancaster, PA regions' asphalt is limestone gray ranging to white.

[TheOneKEA]

Interstate 68 west of Sideling Hill, MD is frequently paved with reddish asphalt. Interstate 70 in Hancock, MD is similarly paved. I always assumed that the asphalt was formulated differently to deal with the snow and ice accumulation in winter.

[oscar]

The "Red Road" on Hawaii's Big Island (county route 137) once was surfaced mostly with red cinder asphalt, using a bunker oil binder. When most of the road was repaved (after constant complaints about the rough surface aggravating residents' back problems), the new surface was regular black asphalt, since bunker oil was no longer a permissible binder. The northernmost two miles of the road kept its original red surface, though I'm unsure it survived this year's lava flows which covered parts of the Red Road.

[MikieTimT]

Arkansas has very different terrain in the northwest half than it is in the southeast half of the state.  Not to mention, almost each county has its own road crew and Arkansas runs most everything at a district level, so there's a substantial difference evident pretty much at each county line a state highway crosses.  It's even the case for many U.S. and Interstate highways.

[ET21]

I noticed on Friday that the re-surfaced part of IL-390 from I-290 westward has this color while the majority of other pavements on the system are the usual black asphalt. Maybe the Tollway is testing this to see if it lasts longer???

[Beltway]

https://www.lonestarpavingtx.com/colored-asphalt/

Quotes:

Asphalt surface is typically called blacktop because of the color, but not all asphalt is black in color.  This color of roads is determined by the input materials that consist of bitumen, an asphalt cement, and aggregate rock.  Bitumen is naturally black, but there are some surfaces that use dies and even different colored rock to pave with.

Roads in Arizona are sometimes red in color, this is not because of any dyes that are used, but because of the rock used as aggregate.  Because it is not cost effective to ship stone and crushed rock long distances to be used in paving projects local quarries are often the supplier to local roads.  Bedrock in Arizona is high in copper and iron deposits, which is why the rock is a dark red.

When the red rock is used as a paving material the road will not appear red at first.  The top layer of asphalt cement will still give the road a black color, but over time the top layer will wear away turning the road red.

[jon daly]

I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favorite recent threads.

[Tonytone]

Newcastle County DE and the Lancaster, PA regions' asphalt is limestone gray ranging to white.

Ive seen Red asphalt in Pa. especially in that Lancaster area.


iPhone

[index]

I have yet to see asphalt other than some shade of grey that isn't light in NC. South Carolina, on the other hand, seems to have the same thing as Florida with its asphalt, a lot of it turns light grey to white after it's paved.

[adventurernumber1]

https://www.lonestarpavingtx.com/colored-asphalt/

Quotes:

Asphalt surface is typically called blacktop because of the color, but not all asphalt is black in color.  This color of roads is determined by the input materials that consist of bitumen, an asphalt cement, and aggregate rock.  Bitumen is naturally black, but there are some surfaces that use dies and even different colored rock to pave with.

Roads in Arizona are sometimes red in color, this is not because of any dyes that are used, but because of the rock used as aggregate.  Because it is not cost effective to ship stone and crushed rock long distances to be used in paving projects local quarries are often the supplier to local roads.  Bedrock in Arizona is high in copper and iron deposits, which is why the rock is a dark red.

When the red rock is used as a paving material the road will not appear red at first.  The top layer of asphalt cement will still give the road a black color, but over time the top layer will wear away turning the road red.

This makes a lot of sense. In Tennessee you will often find asphalt roads that have a brown or reddish look, but on the roads that look like that, the pavement is usually older. This would explain why whenever a road is newly paved with asphalt in Tennessee, it usually still looks black at first. However, as time goes on, it seems to gravitate more to a brown or red look, which is typical for many asphalt roads in states in my region such as Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas that have these occurrences. My home state of Georgia typically has asphalt roads that look black at first but then some kind of grey later on as they age. Florida's asphalt roads tend to often look more white-ish and light grey as they age - and so does South Carolina, as index notes.

[Beltway]

Liquid asphalt (a very heavy distillate of petroleum) is typically black in color.  So a newly paved road would have the asphalt cement mixed thru including on the top.  As the road wears from traffic the asphalt wears away and more of the aggregate is exposed to the surface, and shows the color of the aggregate (whitish, red, etc.).

[qguy]

Liquid asphalt (a very heavy distillate of petroleum) is typically black in color.  So a newly paved road would have the asphalt cement mixed thru including on the top.  As the road wears from traffic the asphalt wears away and more of the aggregate is exposed to the surface, and shows the color of the aggregate (whitish, red, etc.).

Roadsguy (my son) can confirm that this is precisely the explanation I provided him since he first asked me this thread's question seemingly six months after he was born.

[ATLRedSoxFan]

I can remember as a kid, when Tennessee was first building their interstates, the off ramps had red tinted as fault and on ramps had green tinted as fault. A couple other states did this too, just can't remember which ones.