western builder, april 2013
New Pavement Technologies Tried In Twin Cities

Streets, alleyways and parking lots of all sizes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are undergoing trial applications of the latest technologies designed to extend the life of asphalt pavements. Paving crews are installing warm mix asphalt, biologically based pavement protective coatings, highly modified asphalt mixes and combinations of these technologies in different sections of Minnesota’s Twin Cities region,
which forms the core of the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States and houses some 3.3 million residents. In constant search for cost-efficient, longerlived pavements, municipal officials approved the trial applications, all of which are the handiwork of Bituminous Roadways Inc. (BRI), a local paving contractor who has been operating in the Twin Cities area for nearly seven decades...

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Asphalt Contractor, march/april 2013
Twin Cities Suburb Fights Weak Bases, Heavy Traffic with "Highly Modified" Asphalt

With an eye to cost-ef-fective construction, a Minnesota city has placed substantial sections of pavement containing highly modified asphalt (HiMA) mix in an effort to fight the effects of weak subgrades and heavy traffic.  Bloomington, MN – population 84,000 –may just be a suburb within the Twin Cities region – but it has big-city problems when it comes to water-saturated bases and heavy traffic that comes with its prime location south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, adjacent to the international airport there, and with the sprawling Mall of America within its city limits...

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Roads & Bridges, February 2013
Highly Motivated - Use of binder allows crews to do more with less asphalt

Recently research by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) indicates the use of highly polymer-modified asphalt binder (HiMA) in mix design can reduce pavement thickness requirements while matching or exceeding the cracking and rutting resistance of significantly thicker non-HiMA mixes.

Findings from the 2009-11 research cycle at NCAT’s Pavement Test Track in Opelika, Ala. show a sponsored pavement section incorporating HiMA binder experienced less than one-third the wheel-path rut depth of the track’s control section, which is 20% thicker...

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WORLD HIGHWAYS, september 2012
Kraton’s HiMA trials in Brazil

On 15th August Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff announced a US$66 billion (BRL 133 billion) investment package for the country’s road and rail networks. Of that, $21 billion (BRL 42 billion) is earmarked for the upgrade or construction of 7,500km of highways
through a series of concessions. “We’re starting an initial stage from which Brazil will emerge richer and stronger,” Rousseff said as she made the announcement. “Brazil will have an infrastructure that’s compatible with its size.” As Brazil looks forward to the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016, one of its most pressing tasks is to upgrade its infrastructure. Without improvements to its transport networks, economists warn that the country’s growth with be stifled. A burgeoning consumer society means more cars and more goods vehicles, in a country where 60% of transportation relies on roads and only 12% of roads are paved...

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National Center for Asphalt Technology - Auburn, August 2012
Field and Laboratory Study of High-polymer Mixtures at The NCAT Test Track

Ever increasing traffic intensities and pavement loadings accompanied by depleted agency budgets demand that pavement structures achieve better performance more efficiently to reach an
overall reduced life cycle cost. Polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) is a well-established product for improving the effectiveness of asphalt pavements. In particular, styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymers are commonly used to improve permanent deformation resistance and durability in wearing courses (von Quintus, 2005; Anderson, 2007).

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asphalt pro, july 2012
Oklahoma Anticipates I-40 Performance Gain with HiMA

Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials have high hopes for a mil-and-overlay of I-40 just west of Oklahoma City that incorporates highly modified asphalt (HiMA) pavement.  ODOT  is using  HiMA on I-40 in Caddo County in the first commercial application of this new technology.

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Better Roads, April 2012
The Chemistry of Road Building Materials

Liquid asphalt binder might be thought of as the
sludge left over from petroleum after higher-revenue
products such as gasoline, plastic feed stocks, kerosene
and petroleum distillates have been removed. About 3
percent of a barrel of petroleum (42 gallons) winds up
as liquid asphalt.

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National Center for Asphalt Technology - Auburn, February 2012
Phase IV Ncat Pavement Test Track Findings

The NCAT Pavement Test Track, operated by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), has been a successful pavement research program for many reasons. First, the 1.7-mile oval test track is a unique accelerated pavement testing facility that brings together real-world pavement construction with live heavy trafficking for rapid testing and analysis of asphalt pavements. Since the test track is funded and managed as a cooperative project, highway agencies and industry sponsors have specific research objectives for their section(s) and shared objectives for the track as a whole. The results of the experiments are not abstract or ambiguous; they are easy to interpret, so findings are quickly put into practice by sponsors.

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Roads, February/March 2011
Port of Napier Debuts Highly Modified Asphalt

GDOT had specified Superpave with the PG 76-22 binder because of the type of traffic seen at the Routes 138/155 intersection, said Wu.
Superpave (from SUperior PERforming Asphalt PAVEments) is a hot mix asphalt design system resulting from the $150-million Strategic Highway Research Program launched in 1987 to improve performance, durability, safety, and efficiency of the Nation’s highway system. Superpave consists of a performance graded asphalt binder specification, a hot mix asphalt design method, and tests and performance prediction models.


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Dixie Contractor, December 2010
Failed Test Track Section Repaired

A failed section of the Pavement Test Track at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) in Opelika, Alabama was recently repaired using Highly Modified Asphalt (HiMA) binder. East Alabama Paving of Opelika recently repaired a section of the 1.7-mile test track, an Auburn University facility known for its asphalt pavement
research and development, to correct severe pavement rutting and cracking. The paving contractor/ asphalt mix producer has a contract with NCAT to construct, and repair if necessary, the 200-ft. sections of experimental pavements under the current 2009-2012 research cycle.

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Dixie Contractor, October 2010
Georgia DOT Chooses Highly Modified Asphalt

GDOT had specified Superpave with the PG 76-22 binder because of the type of traffic seen at the Routes 138/155 intersection, said Wu.
Superpave (from SUperior PERforming Asphalt PAVEments) is a hot mix asphalt design system resulting from the $150-million Strategic Highway Research Program launched in 1987 to improve performance, durability, safety, and efficiency of the Nation’s highway system. Superpave consists of a performance graded asphalt binder specification, a hot mix asphalt design method, and tests and performance prediction models.

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