Asfalttistas

Asfalttistas are workers who lay, repair, and maintain asphalt pavements. They are involved in road construction and maintenance projects, using asphalt concrete and related materials to create durable road surfaces. The term is commonly used in Spanish-speaking contexts to describe crews engaged in paving, resurfacing, patching, and related tasks.

Core duties include site preparation, grading and compaction of subbase and base layers; heating, transporting, and applying asphalt mix; laying the asphalt with a paving machine or manually on smaller sections; applying tack coats and wearing courses; and compacting the surface with rollers to achieve the required density and smoothness. They also perform joint work, edge finishing, and traffic control during operations, and may carry out cold milling or pothole repairs as needed. Quality control may involve checking asphalt temperature, layer thickness, compaction, and surface texture.

Typical equipment includes asphalt pavers, distributors or tack coat sprayers, feed bins, rollers, stabilizers, heaters, and hand tools for edging and finishing. Asphalt types used include hot mix asphalt and warm mix asphalt, selected according to climate, pavement structure, and project specifications.

Working conditions are outdoor and physically demanding, with exposure to heat, traffic, and machine noise. Safety protocols, personal protective equipment, and traffic management are essential. The occupation is usually organized within construction crews, sometimes represented by labor unions or road maintenance departments, and may be seasonal or project-based.