home < In the District Spotlight < Odessa, TX Meeting
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In the District SpotlightOdessa, Texas Rubber Pavements Meeting The Rubber Pavement Association - Tempe, AZ conducted a three day workshop of asphalt rubber, highlighting the work being carried on by the Texas Department of Transportation (TEXDOT). A substantial amount of technical information was disseminated at the meeting, including the asphalt rubber specifications developed by TEXDOT. Design, mixing, and supervision of the test paving in St. Francis County will be handled by FNF Construction out of Phoenix, Arizona. Polytech of Phoenix will supply the rubber that will be part of the paving mix. This project is scheduled for late October, 2000. The East Arkansas Planning and Development District is an associate member of the Rubber Pavements Association. |
Staff of the East Arkansas Waste Tire Program attended the meeting along
with the St. Francis County Judge, a county included in the East Arkansas
Regional Solid Waste Management District located in Delta area of eastern
Arkansas. The Waste Tire Program staff and the St. Francis County Judge,
Carl Cisco are developing a demonstration project in St. Francis County
using asphalt rubber and conventional asphalt along a two mile stretch
of paved county road to test the performance characteristics of both pavements
over a several year period. The University of Arkansas Engineering Department
in Fayetteville, Arkansas will be testing and monitoring the performance
of the pavements.
The highlight of the Odessa conference was the field visits to the TEXDOT
laboratory in Odessa and the overlay work underway on Interstate 20 west
of Odessa. At the lab conference attendees were shown samples of asphalt
rubber and some of the test conducted on the sample material. 
One of the most interesting characteristics of the overlay is its ability
to shed water. The relative openness of the material allows water on the
surface of the road to quickly flow through the material and out the sides
of the roadway, substantially eliminating vehicle hydroplaning and rooster
tails from water expelled from the rear of moving tires. Also demonstrated
was the elasticity and cohesion of the open material.
From the lab the group proceed west of the city along Interstate 20 to
the asphalt mixing site. Here the crumb is mixed with binder, heated to
allow expansion of the rubber to increase the viscosity of the binder,
than finally adding the binder to the aggregate, mixing, loading and transporting
to the paving site.
At the paving site asphalt rubber paving material is wind rowed ahead
of the lay down machine, collected and deposited in the hopper of the
lay down machine and then spread on the existing paved surface. Steel
wheeled rollers work the material similar to conventional asphalt pavements.
Critical to the compaction of the asphalt rubber is rolling the material
at a prescribed temperature to insure proper composite of the aggregate
and binder.