The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), Lanham, Maryland, is conducting its annual survey on the use of recycled materials and warm-mix asphalt. This survey is conducted under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and is used for tracking sustainable practices by the asphalt pavement industry.
The confidential survey gathers information about the use of these materials during the 2017 construction season. Responses are sought from producers of all sizes and from every community in all 50 U.S. states and U.S. territories.
“By providing answers to the questionnaire, asphalt mix producers will improve the accuracy of the findings and will help ensure the industry’s environmental impacts are properly understood by federal and state agencies, as well as the public,” Brett Williams, NAPA director of engineering and technical support, says. “The survey tracks implementation of these technologies and enables NAPA, FHWA, industry, and others to highlight sustainable practices in the asphalt pavement industry and to focus efforts to expand future implementation growth.”
NAPA and FHWA have tracked usage of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and warm-mix asphalt (WMA) annually since the 2009 construction season. The results from the 2016 construction season were released in November 2017, showing that more than 79 million tons of recycled material was used in asphalt pavement mixtures during 2016. This includes RAP and RAS, as well as other reclaimed and recycled materials, such as ground tire rubber, steel and blast furnace slags, coal combustion products and cellulose fibers.
In addition, about 116.8 million tons—more than 31 percent of total asphalt pavement mixture produced in 2016—used WMA technologies to reduce mix-production temperatures. The full results of the 2016 survey are available at www.AsphaltPavement.org/recycling.
To take part in the 2017 survey, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/RMWMASurvey2017.