Q&A
DOT's use of sustainable paving technologies
0:37:25
ยท
152 sec
First Deputy Commissioner Forgione explains DOT's use of sustainable paving technologies, focusing on recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). She details the process and benefits of using RAP in DOT's asphalt plants and through contractors.
- DOT uses 35-40% recycled asphalt in its in-house asphalt plants
- Plans to increase recycled asphalt usage to 50% after plant rebuilding
- Contractors use 20-40% recycled asphalt in their mixes for DOT projects
Michael Capasso
0:37:25
In terms of sustainable technologies, DOT is a national
Selvena Brooks-Powers
0:37:25
leader in the use of recycled asphalt pavement and also implements warm mix recycled tire rubber and recycled plastic waste technology.
0:37:37
What are the advantages of each of these technologies?
Margaret Forgione
0:37:43
Thank you for the question.
0:37:44
We at DOT, we love talking about WRAP, which is recycled asphalt pavement.
0:37:48
So as everybody knows, before we pave, we remove the top layer of the street.
0:37:54
That's what we call wrap.
0:37:56
In our current in house we have 2 in house asphalt plants where we utilize this product.
0:38:02
We use the wrap so we don't have to purchase what we call virgin aggregate and new materials.
Selvena Brooks-Powers
0:38:08
And what are those sites?
Margaret Forgione
0:38:10
Our Harper Street plant and our Hamilton Avenue plant.
0:38:14
So in our Harper Street plant, we currently use about 35% wrap or recycled asphalt.
0:38:21
We're in the process of rebuilding that site.
0:38:24
It's a very, very old site.
0:38:26
Once we rebuild it, we expect to use about 50% recycled asphalt.
0:38:31
And then currently in our Harper plant I'm sorry, in our Hamilton Avenue plant, we use about 40% recycled asphalt.
0:38:35
We've also experimented just this year with good.
0:38:48
We're gonna keep watching it.
0:38:50
We all know that our streets need to last for many years, so it's fine if it looks good for 1 or 2 years.
0:38:55
But does it hold up in the long run?
0:38:57
That is really the question.
0:39:00
You also and then one other thing I wanted to mention that we purchase about 50% of our asphalt for our resurfacing operation, and we have 4 contractors.
0:39:10
They use anywhere from about 20 to 40% of the wrap that we dig up in that asphalt mix.
Michael Capasso
0:39:16
So what we do is rather than paying for
Margaret Forgione
0:39:17
disposal of the material, So what we do is rather than paying for disposal of the material, we, we give it to them and it goes back into the mix and then comes back into our streets.
0:39:28
So, you also mentioned, an additive that we sometimes put in, the warm to to keep asphalt warmer in colder months.
0:39:39
The additive is an interesting, thing that allows us to basically pave longer in colder weather.
0:39:47
So that is something that we also use, but we have to be very well aware of, how that affects the mix, and we have to always make sure that our mix is of a certain durability and high quality.