Recycling Asphalt Pavements: The State of Practice

Millions of miles of paved roads in the world need rehab, maintenance, and upkeep. To sustain this effort, pavement engineers are challenged to find innovative ways to maintain the roads in an economical and environmentally responsible fashion. Pavement recycling is a clear way to achieve sustainability. This chapter provides a brief introduction and outlines the state of practice with respect to asphalt pavement recycling. The reuse of various pavement layers (asphalt, asphaltic base, granular base, and subbase) is discussed. The ways of utilizing the material, from the highest to the lowest economical use, are presented. The methods of recycling individual layers or combining multiple layers are discussed.