Ryan Barborak, P.E. CST – Flexible Pavements Branch

RAS PROJECTS THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2 http://www.ranker.com/list/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-movie-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes?page=2

“Every gun makes its own tune.”

The Good Quotes

3

“No really guys, RAS is the best thing since sliced bread” – General Lee

“Save your RAS, it’s good for the environment” – Dale Rand Presentation

“Do something useful with your RAS” – Dale Rand Presentation

“You bet your RAS you can save a lot of money” – Dale Rand Presentation

The Bad Quotes

4

“Get your RAS out of here (surface mix)” – Dale Rand Presentation

“With enough RAS in this baby, we can make black concrete.” – Dale Rand Presentation

“We love RAS” – Crack seal guys

The Ugly Quotes

5

“RAS is a four letter word” – Various

“We smile every time RAS is used” – Concrete Industry

“We should treat our roads as assets, not consumables that can be used up, thrown away and replaced with new ones.”

- Don Brock, Astec Industries

…And use all viable materials to maintain our assets when possible.

Why is RAS so Desirable?

Base (fiberglass or organic felt)

Waterproofing asphalt

Waterproofing asphalt

Granular/aggregate

Back surfacing

Component Organic Felt Fiberglass Mat

Asphalt cement 30-36% 19-22%

Felt (Fiber) 2-15% 2-15%

Mineral aggregate (#30) 20-38% 20-38%

Mineral filler/stabilizer 8-40% 8-40%

Comparison with RAP

Asphalt 24%

Fine Agg. 72.5%

Fine Agg. 35.0%

Coarse Agg. 60.0%

Asphalt 5.0%

RAS RAP

Fibers 2.5%

Prices

9

Material

Cost Per Ton

Notes

Aggregate

$25 Includes processing (freight may not be included)

PG 76-22

$732 *Based on October 2014 Index (freight not included)

PG 70-22

$678 *Based on October 2014 Index (freight not included)

PG 64-22

$583 *Based on October 2014 Index (freight not included)

RAP

$20 Contains 5% AC (includes processing, may not include freight)

RAS

$25 Contains 20% AC (includes processing, may not include freight)

RAS (Asphalt)

$125 Assuming 20% AC (includes processing, may not include freight)

* Source: Louisiana Asphalt Pavement Association

Districts That Have Used RAS to Date in Mixes

10

WICHITA FALLS PARIS

ATLANTA

TYLER

DALLAS

LUFKIN

FORT WORTH

WACO

BRYAN

BEAUMONT

HOUSTON YOAKUM

CORPUS CHRISTI

PHARR

LAREDO

SAN ANTONIO

AUSTIN

BROWNWOOD

SAN ANGELO

EL PASO

ODESSA

LUBBOCK

AMARILLO

ABILENE

CHILDRESS

Districts That Currently Allow RAS Without Restrictions In Surface Mixes

11

WICHITA FALLS PARIS

ATLANTA

TYLER

DALLAS

LUFKIN

FORT WORTH

WACO

BRYAN

BEAUMONT

HOUSTON YOAKUM

CORPUS CHRISTI

PHARR

LAREDO

SAN ANTONIO

AUSTIN

BROWNWOOD

SAN ANGELO

EL PASO

ODESSA

LUBBOCK

AMARILLO

ABILENE

CHILDRESS

Districts That Currently Allow RAS Without Restrictions In Surface Mixes

12

WICHITA FALLS PARIS

ATLANTA

TYLER

DALLAS

LUFKIN

FORT WORTH

WACO

BRYAN

BEAUMONT

HOUSTON YOAKUM

CORPUS CHRISTI

PHARR

LAREDO

SAN ANTONIO

AUSTIN

BROWNWOOD

SAN ANGELO

EL PASO

ODESSA

LUBBOCK

AMARILLO

ABILENE

CHILDRESS

Districts That Currently Allow RAS In Sub-surface Mixes

13

WICHITA FALLS PARIS

ATLANTA

TYLER

DALLAS

LUFKIN

FORT WORTH

WACO

BRYAN

BEAUMONT

HOUSTON YOAKUM

CORPUS CHRISTI

PHARR

LAREDO

SAN ANTONIO

AUSTIN

BROWNWOOD

SAN ANGELO

EL PASO

ODESSA

LUBBOCK

AMARILLO

ABILENE

CHILDRESS

RAS Usage FY 2013 to FY 2014

14

FY 2013 FY 2014 Seal Coat (SY) 112,957,416 121,911,803 Mix Tonnage (tons) 7,581,968 8,086,538 Dense Graded (%) 82.5 82.2 Superpave (%) 3.2 7.8 SMA (%) 3.5 3.3 PFC (%) 5.1 2.5 TOM (Item 347) (%) 1.2 2.6 Bonded (Item 348) (%) 2.2 0.8 RAP (%) 15.6 11.8 RAS (%) 2.0 1.7 WMA (%) 17.1 22.5

Comprehensive RAS Survey and Evaluation

15

What is the performance of RAS? – CST is currently conducting an evaluation to determine the performance of

HMA containing RAS.

Project Locations by District

16

WICHITA FALLS PARIS

ATLANTA

TYLER

DALLAS

LUFKIN

FORT WORTH

WACO

BRYAN

BEAUMONT

HOUSTON YOAKUM

CORPUS CHRISTI

PHARR

LAREDO

SAN ANTONIO

AUSTIN

BROWNWOOD

SAN ANGELO

EL PASO

ODESSA

LUBBOCK

AMARILLO

ABILENE

CHILDRESS

Number of Projects in Each District

17

District Projects Atlanta 17 Austin 60

Brownwood 5 Bryan 58

Childress 10 Dallas 46

Fort Worth 93 Laredo 9 Lufkin 18 Paris 36

San Antonio 19 Tyler 16 Waco 15

Yoakum 2 Total 404

The Big Picture

18

Plan to evaluate 8-10 projects per district – First round to look at around 75 projects – Will evaluate more if needed

Able to look at a combination of materials – Virgin only – RAP only – RAS only – RAP and RAS – RAS taken out of the mix during construction

Evaluate (other factors) – Pavement Design – Mix Design – Construction

19

CSJ: 0252-01-069 Highway: US 281 District/County: Austin/Burnet

Project Complete Date: N/A (Let 8/10/2010)

Mix Info: RAS: 5% RAP: 15% Virgin AC: N/A Total AC: 5.2% Mix Type: D-GR HMA TY-C Original Binder Grade: PG 70-22 SAC: B

DISTRESSES: - Cracking: none - Raveling: none - Flushing: none - Rutting: none - Color: different from median (lighter color), outside, and inside lane (lanes darker) - Amount of polished aggregate: low

COMMENTS: - Mix looks good (between large repaired strips of highway) - Outside lane was overlaid (patch) at the end of project (Houston Street) - Good ride - Overlapping joints (common for larger aggregate such as B or C mix)

Austin District

20

Evaluated 9 projects – One project was overlaid – One was unclear where Section 1 ended and Section 2 began

Highway RAS % RAP % Overall Grade US281 5 15 Good US281 0 0 Good

FM1460 5 0 Not Acceptable RM1431 5 0 Acceptable

SH71 0 0 Good SH21 4 16 Acceptable

FM812 3 17 Acceptable

The Good

21 http://ringtones.mob.org/mp3/the_good_the_bad_the_ugly-12180/

The Bad (Acceptable)

22

The Ugly (Not Acceptable)

23

Challenges

24

Difficult to determine section locations especially if changes to the mixture design were made during construction – Need district input

Define failure – Is one crack considered a failure? – We are currently proposing three categories

• Good • Acceptable • Not Acceptable

Some sections have already been overlaid – Why?

So far, not enough data to draw any conclusions

SH 31 - Layout of 5 test sections

Section 1: Virgin mix with PG70-22 Section 2: Control mix (PG64-22/10% RAP/5% RAS) Section 3: Control mix with Hydrogreen Section 4: Control mix with Evoflex Section 5: Control mix with ERA

Tyler District/Athens AO Sections Placed June 2014

Finished surface

Performance Properties for SH 31 Mixes

Rejuvenated recycled mixes can have similar or even better engineering properties than virgin mixes. Perhaps rejuvenators are the key to RAS performance.

Questions?

27 http://hurstrobert.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/fret-not/x-go-ahead-make-my-day/