Recycling

Let me begin this exposition on the asphalt industry’s use of asphalt cement (AC) and additives in environmentally positive configurations with a diversion. This diversion is toward the fantastic. Picture, if you will, a wasteland in which the missing windows of high rise buildings mimic broken teeth. Along litter-cluttered sidewalks, vines escape their cracked pots […]

Sometimes an owner/agency requires full depth reclamation of a pavement. Sometimes the pavement—and the budget—needs a repair of lesser depth. In all applications, however, the desired end result is to have consistent material gradation behind the machine. The team at BOMAG Americas, Ridgeway, South Carolina, has incorporated extra breaker bar assemblies and an additional variable-position […]

“This is an exciting time to be in asphalt recycling research,” Dr. Amy Epps Martin said. She is a professor and the A.P. & Florence Wiley Faculty Fellow in Texas A&M’s Zachry Department of Civil Engineering. “My dad began his research career in the field of asphalt recycling in the 1970s and 80s when oil […]

Researchers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University in Alabama study failed as well as successful experimental sections on their pavement test track. The latest three-year research cycle at the track includes a special focus group of pavement sections they hope will fail. The reason: they learn as much from evaluating […]

Rehabilitation isn’t always the first choice when it comes to improving a road, but when it offers nearly the full benefits of complete reconstruction at less than half the cost, it certainly becomes an attractive option. For the city of New Berlin, Wisconsin, rehabilitation soon became the only option to restore Ryerson Road. Located in […]

The No.1 theme in road construction is green technology. Government road agencies that specify in-place, full-depth recycling (FDR) take green to another level. While reuse of materials and fuel savings always have been benefits of in-place recycling, environmental attributes now include reduced carbon emissions, which are essential to reducing presumed global warming. In the regions […]

Whether or not the use of high percentages of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) or recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) in mixes can correlate to premature pavement cracking, is the catalyst for new action in the state of California. It’s no secret that adding RAP or RAS to the production process means you’re adding a binder that […]