From Fairbanks, Alaska to the frozen tundra, the largest oil field in North America, this 414-mile road is remote and rugged, with steep hills like a roller coaster, nearby polar bears, and "Ice Truck Driver" historical channel episodes often appearing. Bad weather.

Locally known as the Dalton Highway, this sometimes paved and often stoned road is a lifeline that transports supplies from food and heating fuel to modular housing to 213,543 acres of oil fields near the Arctic Ocean and a few towns north of the Arctic Circle.

When the Alaska Department of Transportation needed to repair a 50-mile section not far from the Prudhoe Bay oil field, it gave the green light to use block expanded polystyrene as an insulating material in the roadbed.

The contractor is installing two layers of 2-inch thick EPS as part of the foundation of the highway gravel pavement section, which dates back to 1974 and originally served the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. According to Monte Hagerty, a plant manager at a plant in Anchorage, the insulating material serves two purposes. The plant produced 4 million cubic feet of InsulFoam 40 brand EPS for the project. Hagerty told Plastic News that the product kept the permafrost frozen to maintain stability and raised the roadbed above the flood level.

According to reports, about 200 tractor-trailer rigs travel on roads that are affected by freeze-thaw cycles every day. Although the average temperature is below freezing for most of the year, summer temperatures usually reach over 50 degrees, and recorded temperatures range from -62° F to 83° F. The melting permafrost caused the highway to settle and bend.

Another problem is the large flood caused by the rapid melting of the Sag River in 2015. Ice spills and spring floods eroded parts of the road.

Hagerty stated in an email that InsulFoam 40 solves these problems by "storing the cold" in the subgrade in winter to keep the permafrost frozen in summer, and by providing lightweight structural infills to raise the subgrade to flood level Above without overly compressing the soil below.

Hagerty said that traditionally, the only product that can meet project standards in terms of calorific value, water absorption and compressibility is extruded polystyrene foam board. However, the Insulfoam Anchorage plant has "professional manufacturing equipment" that can produce EPS boards that meet the standards of the National Association of Highway and Transportation Officials. Hagerty said that due to proprietary reasons, he could only identify the device as a block forming machine.

He described the InsulFoam 40 product as "a high-performance insulating material, composed of high-quality closed-cell, lightweight and flexible EPS, manufactured in a wooden mold."

To date, road workers have installed a large number of products for the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2019.

"Imagine a football field stacked with insulation material about 70 feet high," Hagerty said of the volume made so far.

Hagerty added that preparing the Anchorage production plant and its employees to complete the huge order is a major task.

He said: "This requires the factory to solve a series of production challenges required for three years of 24/7 operation, while also meeting other local needs for insulation products."

According to a product data sheet, InsulFoam 40 has a history of about 25 years. The product data sheet states that commercial, industrial and residential applications include foundations, drill floors, railway bases, ice rinks and parking lots, as well as for roadbeds and permanent The use of frozen soil protection.

The InsulFoam brand is owned by Carlisle Construction Material Co., located in Puyallup, Washington, and says that it is the largest manufacturer of block molded EPS in the United States. CCM is a $2 billion division of the listed company Carlisle Cos. The company has more than 2,400 employees and operates 26 factories in North America and 5 factories in Europe.

In Anchorage, Hagerty said: “Specifically, the plant has increased its production by supplying 3 1/2, 52-foot-long EPS flatbed trucks every day to meet the construction schedule of the Dalton Highway, and cooperate with contractors to deliver them. Over 500 miles to the workplace."

The product data sheet states that once there, there is usually no need to cut or trim, because the wood board molding process produces a single panel with a hard, skin-like finish.

According to a YouTube video about the project, road workers at Cruz Construction Inc., headquartered in Palmer, Alaska, will lay down more than 3,000 sheets of paper every 12-hour shift.

A 50-mile stretch of the Dalton Highway in Alaska, not far from Prudhoe Bay, is upgrading the block expanded polystyrene insulation in the roadbed. Road workers install more than 3,000 sheets of paper every 12 hours in shifts.

Chris Krieg, project manager of Cruz Construction, explained how the product was installed in the video.

“Gluing the insulating board to the road surface looks a bit like a spring bar, but it is a huge stapler, using 6-inch staples,” he said. "A person walked over, punched it in, passed the insulating board, and fixed it to the gravel."

According to Krieg, senior members of the road crew commented on the durability of the board.

"When we started laying gravel on it and using our equipment to bulldozer on it, many older generations were surprised by its supporting effect," he said. "It won't crack and break into pieces like what they used in the past."

Krieg added that maintaining a complete corridor from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay is crucial. Aircraft delivery is impractical, and transportation through the Gulf is not possible for most of the year.

"To break into Prudhoe Bay, your time is tight, about two months-so the Dalton Highway is the main source of these people here, and we need to make sure it stays in good condition," Krieger said.

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