Highway Recycling and Reconstruction Program

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

Cass County, North Dakota developed the Highway Recycling and Reconstruction Program to reconstruct County Highways at a cheaper, more environmentally friendly method, all while providing a high-quality road for the travelling public. This project started in partnership with the Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association (ARRA). Cass County hosted a 2-Day live seminar in 2016 with demonstrations to showcase 14 different in-place recycling cross sections on their own county roads. Cass County engineers monitored the cross-section’s performance and chose to implement Cement Treated Subgrade and Full Depth Reclamation to repair Cass County Highway 38. Implementing these techniques on 17 miles of County Highway 38 saved Cass County nearly $500,000 per mile, or almost $7.5 million dollars over the 17-mile project. Instead of taking four or five years to construct, this project was also completed in only three years due to the accelerated construction techniques and cost savings. Significant in the dollar savings is that Cass County spends $10-12 million per year on its road and bridge projects, so a savings of $8.5 million saved more than 80% of one year’s total road and bridge budget. This project has been presented at several conferences including the 2020 ARRA National Conference.