Reeves Construction Company was recently chosen as a winner of the prestigious 2013 Globe Award from American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) for a rubberized asphalt paving project on Highway 247 in Bibb and Houston counties, Georgia.
Reeves Construction Company’s West Division completed the project in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and Rubber Asphalt Solutions (RAS).
The project consisted of 5.179 miles of milling and repaving the existing roadway. All of the performance graded 76-22 binder used in these mixes was modified with ground tire rubber up to 10% of the total asphaltic cement content.
A total of 27,250 tons of crumb rubber modified asphaltic concrete pavement was placed across four lanes from Echeconnee Creek to Liberty Church Road through Bibb and Houston counties. This included a total of approximately 311,000 pounds of processed tire rubber. All of the 12.5mm SP dense graded mix was produced with 24% reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP).
The success of this innovative project was made possible through continual industry partnering based on a common goal of minimizing the industry’s carbon footprint and improving transportation quality.
Charles Hasty P.E., GDOT state materials engineer and the Bituminous Construction Branch provided leadership and support for utilizing tire rubber as an alternate binder modification material. Together with Georgia state Rep. Randy Nix, the Office of Materials amended the standard specifications to allow crumb rubber modification in all asphaltic concrete mixtures. RAS provided the technology needed to utilize the plant induced method of modification and Lehigh Technology provided the high quality processed tire rubber used to achieve the required binder performance grade.
The alliance of these industry partners and the dedication of Wayne Marshall at Reeves has moved the company closer to becoming an environmental leader. The construction of this project, using asphalt mix with end-of-life tires and a high percentage of recycled asphalt pavement places Reeves and the GDOT on the cutting edge of green infrastructure development.