TxDOT Binder Quality Assurance Program: Assessment and Improvement

Most state departments of transportation (DOTs) maintain asphalt binder quality assurance (QA) programs to ensure materials used in road construction meet specifications for each project based on local environmental and traffic conditions. Currently, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) samples and approves asphalt materials at the source. These materials are then utilized in highway projects without consideration of possible changes in properties that may occur between production and use during construction. Historic concern and limited recent data indicate that binder properties do change, after production contributing to construction and operation difficulties as well as poor performance. In this project, the current TxDOT QA program for binders was evaluated and recommended revisions toward improving quality were made.