Featured Road

Challenge: Lake County needed a stable solution for a critical 4-mile unpaved road in Middletown handling a heavy mix of residential commuters, tourists, and commercial trucks. Due to the high clay content of the native subgrade, the road was highly susceptible to deep rutting, washboarding, and severe dust with standard traffic conditions.

Results: In 2011, the county treated the native clay subgrade with Perma-Zyme using standard earthwork equipment. They were able to include pre-existing surface gravel in the mix, substantially increasing the road's shear strength, improving wet-weather traction, and providing a smooth, stable transition to the paved asphalt sections at both ends of the roadway.

Four years later, the structural integrity of the project was put to an extreme field test during the 2015 Valley Fire. The road served as a critical evacuation route and was subsequently subjected to direct, intense wildfire exposure. When inspected 5 years after the fire, the Perma-Zyme stabilized base had sustained zero structural or thermal degradation. The road surface remained hard, smooth, and fully functional for heavy commercial and residential traffic.