Caltrans challenge Lawrence Orcutt, program manager, Caltrans Maintenance, issued a strong challenge to other Asphalt-Rubber states during his keynote address at the RPA annual meeting in January. Orcutt was part of the original Rubber Pavements Team created in a 1998 partnering session that included all the major stakeholders in the use of California's scrap tires - the California Integrated Waste Management Board, Caltrans, and RPA. He has been a leading force in increasing the agency's use of crumb rubber in asphalt pavement. Orcutt reports that Caltrans will place over a million tons of A-R in the coming construction season and plans on taking over 1.8 million tires out of the solid waste stream. He said Caltrans was going to give Arizona, Florida and Texas a "run for their money" in the use of A-R paving materials. Among the major projects planned for the upcoming season is a 200-lane mile A-R Open-Graded Friction Course, high binder content, on Interstate 5 in District 6. Under Orcutt's leadership, Caltrans maintenance has undertaken an aggresive workshop program for their districts on the latest A-R technologies. "As a southwest A-R contractor, I can't think of anything better than Caltrans and ADOT having a contest on the use of tires in pavements," said Mark Belshe, RPA president. This editor agrees. Now if they can just catch up to Florida. At TRB - Dick Stubstad, Consulpav International, center, greets Bob Winters, Atlos Rubber, RPA first vice president, left, and Henry Hungerbeeler, Missouri DOT director, in the General Hap Arnold room of the Army/Navy Club. Winters and Hungerbeeler are USAF veterans. RPA at the TRB For the first time since relocating to Arizona, the RPA had a presence at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington, DC. In addition to sponsoring the paper "I-40, Nine Year Success" by George Way, Technical Advisory Board (TAB) member, RPA held an introductory dinner for state and federal highway officials and university researchers at the Army/Navy Club near the White House. Mark Belshe, RPA president, gave an introductory presentation on the association and Dick Stubstad, TAB member, gave an overview on RPA research efforts. A similar presentation was made to the TRB Committee on Characteristics on Non Bituminous Components of Bituminous Paving Mixtures (A2D02) chaired by Anne Stonex, Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, the following day. Way's paper is available on the RPA Internet site. (Click Here) Asphalt-Rubber 2000 update The first international conference exclusively dedicated to Asphalt-Rubber will be held in Vilamoura on the south coast of Portugal from November 14 to 17. A-R is rapidly gaining worldwide popularity as an excellent product for road rehabilitation projects. Beyond the clear advantage of eliminating a difficult waste product, it has been demonstrated through 30 years of proven performance that the proper use of Asphalt-Rubber products can be extremely cost effective. Specifically, products derived through the "wet process," or partial digestion of the crumb rubber particles in preheated liquid asphalt bitumen have been shown to be most successful. Papers being presented at AsphaltRubber 2000 will cover the following topics: A-R Fabrication A-R Performance and Comparison with Conventional Products. A-R Binder and Mix Design A-R Binder and Mix Specifications A-R Functional Characteristics (skid and noise) A-R Chemical Characteristics A-R Structural Pavement Design A-R Life Cycle Cost and Performance Site visits are planned, including guided tours to a crumb rubber production plant, existing projects, and jobs under construction. The conference will be of special interest to pavement engineers, researchers, contractors, consultants, managers, and designers of road infrastructures, as well as to tire recyclers using new and recycled materials. The program is sponsored in part by RPA and the European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) and organized by Consulpav, Recipav, and Recipneu. Conference registration is $650 US until June 1, 2000 and $730 through October 1. Late registration is $820. Further information may be obtained from www.consulpav.com/AR2OOO or by e-mail to patricia.consulpav@taguspark.pt. Home | Contents & Calendar | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Contacts and Credits