Thousands of highway agencies and primary road contractors are thanking their lucky stars this summer that they have adopted asphalt recycling methods into their road management programs over the years.

With liquid asphalt riding the momentum of soaring crude oil prices this year, the cost of virgin hot-mix asphalt has risen dramatically, effectively reducing how many lane miles of new asphalt agencies and contractors can place for the dollars they budgeted for this year.

Agencies and contractors are also dealing with huge increases in fuel prices, which have negaptively impacted the economics of hauling aggregates, mix, and RAP to and from job sites.

In-place recycling technologies are an excellent hedge against the run-up in oil prices, but they are also excellent pavement management tactics that make sense in many applications, even when oil prices are in the normal range. Consider these examples:

Cold-in-place recycling. Even before crude oil prices zoomed upward, many agencies used CIR for rural road rehabilitation because it saves an enormous amount of time and hundreds of truck runs to pavements that can be an hour or more away from the nearest hot-mix plant. CIR works deep into the pavement to correct a wide range of aging flaws, it causes very little traffic intrusion, and when topped with an inch or two of hot mix, it produces a stronger road than was there before.
Hot-in-place recycling. Even before skyrocketing oil prices made HIR much cheaper than a 2-inch mill and fill, many towns and cities used the process because it’s faster and less intrusive than a mill-and-fill. And, yes, less expensive. HIR reconditions the top inch or two of old pavement, correcting age-related imperfections, rejuvenating the asphalt, and compacting it again. The road is open to traffic almost immediately — a feature that is especially popular with local businesses. Top it with an inch or two of hot mix and you have a stronger pavement than you started with, and it should last just as long as the mill-and-fill would.
Full-depth reclamation. When the old asphalt pavement can’t be salvaged with conventional milling or with CIR or HIR, full-depth reclamation is often the least expensive and fastest way to rebuild the road. The process crushes the old pavement and mixes it with a portion of the sub base granular material while blending in bituminous stabilization material. Other stabilization materials such as portland cement or lime can be added to achieve an optimum base for the new road, and the process allows reshaping of the roadway’s geometry to correct drainage problems and other issues. Like CIR and HIR, this process intrudes very little on area traffic. The reclaimed pavement can be opened to local traffic in hours; the FDR train can occupy a single lane of a two-lane roadway. Best of all, the process leaves behind an extremely strong base to support the subsequent lift(s) of hot-mix asphalt.
If you don’t know contractors in these disciplines, take a few minutes to make contact with the Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association (www.arra.org). The dedicated members of this group have literally written the book on asphalt recycling and are dedicated to increasing its acceptance through professionalism and service. ARRA’s Web site lists member contractors and indicates their specialties.

If you don’t see businesses located in your region, contact ARRA about your interests. Many recycling contractors work far beyond their home bases. For example, many crews work in northern climates all summer, then move south as the cold sets