Perpetual Pavement Performs for “Peanut Capital of the World”
Perpetual Pavement Award winner SR 210/Ross Clark Circle has gained just 3.3 inches of pavement in 63 years of service. BY SARAH REDOHL
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ALDOT has been recognized with 12 Perpetual Pavement Awards from the Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA). In its 63 years of service, Alabama’s State Route 210/Ross Clark Circle has only gained 3.3 inches of pavement and has been resurfaced just three times. One section of the 15mile bypass surrounding the city of Dothan has performed so well that it earned a Perpetual Pavement Award from the Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA). “The pavement on this section in the City of Dothan has proven to withstand both time and traffic,” said Chris Huner, Troy area op-
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erations engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation’s southeast region. Huner has traveled through Dothan for decades, long enough to watch the city grow and change. When SR 210, known to locals as “The Circle,” was first opened to traffic in 1958, the population of Dothan was less than half what it is today. “Today, Dothan is one of southern Alabama’s largest population centers outside of Montgomery,” Huner said, “and the larg-
est population center for 150 miles in each direction.” Dothan, the Peanut Capital of the World, has long been known for its agriculture. Although agriculture remains the city’s largest industry, Dothan now serves as a transportation and commercial hub for southeastern Alabama, southwestern Georgia, and parts of the Florida Panhandle. It’s also the point at which several U.S. routes converge, including U.S. 231, which runs the length of Alabama, U.S. 84, which
