Thus, green roadbuilding like HIR and CIR recycling has become part of the essential “3 Es” of FHWA:

Engineering means good engineering design must be used to assure long-life pavements,

Economics means lifecycle cost analysis should be used in project selection, and

Environment means recycling should be considered first, and that roadbuilders should be good stewards of the environment.

The complete webinar may be viewed at http://www.fhwa.adobeconnect.com/n1340832010march.

New Roads, Less Greenhouse Gases

In California, north of the Bay Area, the agencies of Sonoma County and the City of Napa will take advantage of a $2 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Climate Initiatives Program to demonstrate how CIR recycling can slash greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional road reconstruction.

According to the MTC, $5,288,000 was requested for the work. The 37 percent of requested funding awarded was significantly less than percentages awarded to electric auto and bicycle projects, but the agencies are glad to have it.

The North Bay Business Journal quotes Sonoma County pavement preservation manager Stephen Urbanek as saying, “We got a lot less than we asked for, but it’s enough to get pavement management issues into the conversation when it comes to greenhouse gas reduction. CIR is a wonderful process, green in so many different ways.” The Journal says Urbanek and his team, along with Marlene Demery, special projects manager for the Napa Transportation Agency, and her team, will work with the University of California at Berkeley to develop educational materials on the process, and several road projects are planned for this spring.

CIR reduces the cost to $30 to $40 per installed ton, versus $75 to $100 for traditional methods, the newspaper says, adding road materials can be recycled over and over again.

Although CIR can’t pave new roads or other surfaces, for repaving it can eliminate nearly 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from aggregate mining and asphalt production operations compared to starting from scratch, officials say. It also eliminates the need for trucks hauling old material off the site and new material onto the site, reduces stress on the surrounding roads and city arteries, and quels related work zone congestion.

“CIR’s time has come in Sonoma County,” Urbanek is quoted by the newspaper. “This technology can help the state meet its clean air goals and at the same time save our network of back county roads.”

ARRA Plunges into Research

In the meantime, the Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association (ARRA) has partnered with a university to create a research center for asphalt recycling research. In October 2010, ARRA announced the creation of the Pavement Recycling and Reclaiming Center (PR2C) in conjunction with California State Polytechnic University and the California Department of Transportation.

In this it follows the paths of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University), the concrete pavement industry (National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University) and the pavement preservation industry (National Center for Pavement Preservation at Michigan State University).

“The recycling and reclaiming industry has grown over the past few years,” says Don Matthews, P.E., chairman of ARRA’s Committee on Research and Education, who is also manager, Re-New Pavement Division, and director of research and development, Pavement Recycling Systems, Mira Loma, Calif.

The new center will help the industry maintain high standards. “ARRA has been very active in the establishment of the Pavement Recycling and Reclaiming Center,” Matthews says, “the ultimate purpose of which is to provide pavement contractors, design professionals and public agencies such as DOTs, cities and counties with the knowledge and tools necessary to use pavement recycling and reclaiming as a feasible and competitive alternative to traditional pavement maintenance and rehabilitation strategies.”

The center, he says, is the first in the United States, and possibly the world, to focus specifically on pavement recycling and reclaiming.