ARRA & RMAUPG Brought the 2024 Pavement Recycling Summit to the Biggest Little City

The Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association (ARRA) and Rocky Mountain Asphalt User Producer Group (RMAUPG) partnered for the 2024 Pavement Recycling Summit in Reno, NV, October 21-24^th. Over 220 people registered for the event which included ARRA and RMAUPG members, non-members, government agencies, and academia.

Tuesday morning started with ARRA Committee Meetings. Due to feedback from previous attendees, ARRA did not overlap any meetings so ARRA Members could attend them all if they chose. During this time, RMAUPG planned a Golf Outing at the beautiful Tioyabe Golf Club. Tuesday afternoon, ARRA organized a Pavement Preservation & Recycling Alliance (PPRA) Road Resource Network Bootcamp for attendees. Facilitated by Lindsay Matush, Vario Consulting, this three-hour training course highlighted various parts of RoadResource.org and provided tools and skills needed to improve communities through effective and actionable road network optimization. Cathrina Dmytrow, Pavement ACEs, reviewed various RR.org calculators with real-life examples using ARRA’s key disciplines.

Wednesday provided a full day of presentations that were thoughtfully selected by members of ARRA and RMAUPG. Dr. Jon Epps, Texas A&M Transportation University, took attendees back to the future and shared the history of pavement recycling. Dr. Ben Bowers, Auburn University, then looked at the future opportunities for pavement recycling. Scott Gibson, Regional Transportation Commission, provided a local perspective on pavement preservation and road recycling in the Truckee Meadows. Craig Wieden, Colorado DOT, shared information on the use and selection of asphalt recycling techniques in Colorado. Mike Voth with the Central Federal Lands Highway Division of FHWA, presented on 45 years of in-place recycling at Federal Lands Highway. Shwan Hammer, Fisher Sand & Gravel Inc-NM, shared the state of Recycling in New Mexico. Todd Gonser, Cutler Repaving; Kimberly Dall and Jeremy Clayton, both of City of Littleton, shared how they used HIR to pave county line road in Littleton, CO. Next, Tim Webb, Colorado DOT Region 5, shared information on CDOT SH 149 Cold In-Place which is the biggest cold in-place recycling job in the west. University of California Pavement Research Center, Davis, CA’s David Jones, shared results from pilot studies to compare single and multi-unit recycling trains on cold in-place recycling projects. Lastly, Brian Dobling with FHWA shared the federal vision and future state of practice for EPDs and Buy Clean Initiative.

Thursday attendees started the morning hearing from Adam Hand, University of Nevada Reno, who provided an update on the university’s research. Next, Howard Anderson, UDOT, provided an update on UDOTs’ HiMod experience. Attendees then had a mini workshop that included Amy Epps Martin, Texas A&M University, reviewing proposed draft AASHTO practice and its development of balanced and durable asphalt mixtures with high RAM contents and Tim Aschenbrener, FHWA, reviewing high RAP case studies. The final presentation for the Summit was a panel discussion that included Tyler Wollmuth, North Dakota DOT, Michael Concannon, Pavement Recycling Systems, and Hammer.

Besides the intuitive presentations, there were a few other highlights from the Pavement Recycling Summit. First, attendees were treated to a Bowling Reception which provided them opportunities to network and have some fun on Monday night. Mike O’Leary was honored with the RMAUPG Legend Award for his work in the industry. And agency attendees had the opportunity to attend a roundtable discussion that was facilitated by Aschenbrenner.

ARRA & RMAUPG would like to thank all of this year’s sponsors which included:

• Water Bottle & Registration Bag Sponsor: Caterpillar Inc
• Lanyard & Roadvocate Training Sponsor: Wirtgen Group
• Videographer Sponsor: Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions
• Monday Night Bowling Reception Sponsor: ASTEC
• Mobile App Sponsor: Southeast Cement Promotion Association
• WiFi Sponsor: Asphalt Materials, Inc.
• Break Sponsor
  • BOMAG
  • Pavement Recycling Systems
  • Superior Tire & Rubber Corp.
• General Sponsors
  • Asphalt Pavement Alliance
  • CMT Technical Services
  • Colorbiotics
  • Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming
  • InfraTest USA
  • Ingevity
  • Nouryon
  • PolyCo
  • Western Emulsions

Mark your calendars for the 2025 ARRA Pavement Recycling Summit in Franklin, TN, October 20-23. Registration will open in Summer 2025.