Description
In 2002 the Tire Recycling Management Association of Alberta teamed with Alberta Transportation, the City of Edmonton, the City of Calgary, and Strathcona County to construct four trial sections using asphalt rubber. Asphalt Rubber, as defined by ASTM, consists of at least fifteen percent rubber crumb mixed with asphalt cement. The use of rubber crumb in asphalt pavements not only enhances the performance of asphalt pavements, but also helps to solve the problem of tire disposal. Although many projects have demonstrated improvements in the
performance of asphalt mixture with Rubber Crumb, very few studies have been conducted to investigate the performance of rubber asphalt mixtures in cold climate conditions, such as those in Alberta. Alberta lies in the western portion of Canada between the 49th and 60th parallels of latitude.
A trial section containing asphalt rubber hot mix was constructed by each owner jurisdiction. In each location, a control section was constructed adjacent to the rubber asphalt hot mix section using the owner’s conventional Asphalt Concrete mixture. Each trial section had two different AR overlay thicknesses to study the effects of overlay thickness on performance. For all sections, structural and functional factors were monitored before, during, and after the construction. This paper presents some of the background efforts to allow four owners to collaborate to
construct the sections, an early evaluation of the application of AR in Alberta and a preliminary evaluation of test results and performance of AR hot mix sections
