PennDOT: Recycled Asphalt Paving Saves The Environment And Money

The Department of Transportation Tuesday discussed using Recycled Asphalt Paving or RAP, an innovative paving method, for the first time in Armstrong County to improve nearly five miles of rural roadway.

The pilot, was made possible due to PennDOT's Road Maintenance and Preservation (Road MaP) initiative, which Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced will invest $2.1 billion in roadway maintenance and highway and bridge capital projects over the next 10 years.

"Our Road MaP initiative provides more investment in our lower-traffic roadways as well as our traffic routes and Interstates," said PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration George McAuley. "Recycled Asphalt Pavement is one of the more beneficial and economical tools to improve secondary roads, and allows us to complete or contract even more work due the cost savings."

RAP is an environmentally conscious method that repurposes materials from projects onto other roadways by mixing ground millings with oil. RAP allows the department to pave less-traveled roads that otherwise wouldn't be paved, or to reinforce roadway shoulders.

This week, PennDOT will use RAP on 1.9 miles of Route 2018 (Campbell Run Road) and 3 miles of Route 2012 (Silvis Hollow Road). These roads were chosen based on their "poor" pavement-quality rating and proximity to the stockpile where the materials are stored. They also carry an average of fewer than 3,000 vehicles each day and trucks are less than 10 percent of the traffic.

With roughly 3 inches of RAP compared to an equivalent of 2 inches of new asphalt, PennDOT estimates a $225,000 cost with RAP compared to roughly $371,000. PennDOT can redirect these savings to other maintenance improvements or contracts.

"Our maintenance team has been managing their resources aggressively but the additional maintenance resources provided through Road MaP were sorely needed," said Joe Dubovi, PennDOT's district executive for the region including Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana and Jefferson counties.

Dubovi noted that last year, PennDOT estimated it would cost more than $140 million just to repave the 375 miles of low volume roads with rough pavements in Armstrong County. An additional $15 million will be invested in Armstrong County through the 2028-29 fiscal year due to Road MaP.

The RAP pilot complements the $119.4 million in contract work – for an estimated 125 miles of roadway improvements and 28 bridge projects – anticipated to begin or be bid in the district in 2017.
PennDOT has been using a variety of materials in recycled asphalt paving for at least the last 6 years when DEP adopted General Permit WMGR090.