To understand the performance, safety, health,
the environment, and economics when designing and building an asphalt pavement, engineers need lawmakers to fund research that evaluates the reuse of plastic waste in our nation’s pavement structures.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated more than 35 million tons of plastics entered municipal landfills in 2019, but less than 10 percent was recycled.
Used for three decades to enhance asphalt pavement performance, polymer modified asphalt binder (PMA) offers superior performance benefits that every pavement owner desires.
The Pavement Economics Committee-funded report Use of RAP & RAS in High Binder Replacement Asphalt Mixtures: A Synthesis is complete and published as NAPA Special Report 213. The report includes a historical overview of the use of RAP and RAS, environmental and economic benefits, design and production considerations, and field performance information.
Reflective pavements are promoted as a tool for mitigating the urban heat island effect (UHI), but the science to support such claims is lacking. Most of the research backing such claims deals with rooftops, not pavements, and the effects and value of reflective surfaces are different when they are below our feet instead of well above our heads. This factsheet explores the issue.
Reflective pavements are promoted as a tool for mitigating the urban heat island effect (UHI), but the science to support such claims is lacking. Most of the research backing such claims deals with rooftops, not pavements, and the effects and value of reflective surfaces are different when they are below our feet instead of well above our heads. This technical factsheet explores the issue and highlights what the pavement-focused research on albedo modification has found.