CHEVY CHASE, Md. (Sept. 11, 2012) — Seventy percent of transportation agencies in the U.S. are either using or have used rubber-modified asphalt in highway projects, according to a survey commissioned by the Rubberized Asphalt Foundation (RAF).
The Highway Sustainability Research Center at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth conducted the survey for the RAF and distributed it to 152 transportation professionals in every state transportation agency, the Federal Highway Administration and other government agencies. Twenty-seven of the officials responded, the RAF said.
The responding officials said they had used 14,820 tons of rubber-modified asphalt in the past year to pave 3,745 miles of road, the survey said.
Crack sealing was the most popular use for rubberized asphalt, with 30 percent of the officials saying they had sealed highway cracks with the material. The next most popular use was chip seals at 26 percent, followed by dense-graded hot mix asphalt and joint sealant at 15 percent each.
Of the methods of incorporating rubberized asphalt into pavements, terminal blending was by far the most popular, at 59 percent, the survey said.
The survey accounts for how transportation officials currently use recycled tire rubber in asphalt pavements, said RAF Chairman George Way. The foundation plans another survey to account for the amount of rubber each agency uses, he said.
Based in Chevy Chase, the RAF is a research foundation dedicated to the science and practical use of recycled tire rubber in asphalt. For more information about the foundation or to obtain a copy of the survey findings, go to www.ra-foundation.org.