Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-13-2025

Department

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Abstract

Pavement systems in wet-freeze regions are prone to cracking, rutting, and moisture damage, making it challenging to incorporate recycled materials into asphalt mixtures in a way that enhances sustainability while maintaining performance and constructability. This study investigates and demonstrates the combined benefits of using processed waste glass in a leveling course and high-content crumb rubber in a surface course, focusing on both laboratory and full-scale field assessments in a wet-freeze region of northern Michigan. A leveling course containing 10% waste glass aggregate and a surface course using 16% crumb rubber (by binder weight) modified asphalt were designed with low air voids (3.0–3.5%) to promote thicker asphalt binder films for improved crack resistance. Laboratory results demonstrated that the combination of a 10% glass aggregate leveling course and a 16% rubber-modified surface course significantly enhanced low-temperature fracture energy while maintaining robust rut resistance and moisture durability. Full-scale construction in northern Michigan corroborated these findings; field cores from rubber and glass sections surpassed performance thresholds for rutting, cracking, and noise reduction. This study demonstrates that integrating crumb rubber and waste glass into asphalt pavements offers both environmental and performance benefits. The approach presents a scalable solution for enhancing pavement durability in wet-freeze regions.

Publisher's Statement

Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15101637

Publication Title

Buildings

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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