What the RAP Percentage Means in New Hot Mix

RAP is reclaimed asphalt pavement added back at the plant. The percentage is how much of the new mix is recycled material, within the state spec. It is not loose millings used as gravel. The ticket weight includes the whole mix.

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What the percentage is counting

RAP means reclaimed asphalt pavement, the old mat that was milled or broken up and brought back to a plant. A RAP percentage on a quote is how much of the new hot mix is that recycled material. The rest is new aggregate and new binder, blended to a mix design. States allow RAP within their specifications, so a legal percentage is a spec question, not a guess from a driveway blog. A driveway plant may use a moderate amount. Ask what percentage is in the mix they will load, and ask whether that percentage is allowed for the mix name on your quote. The lab target and the ticket name should agree.

New hot mix is not a millings driveway

RAP inside new hot mix is a different product from loose millings spread on a lane as a gravel substitute. Millings on the ground are uncoated or partly coated stones you drive on as a surface of their own. RAP in a plant silo has been proportioned, heated, and combined into a new mix with a binder grade and a stone blend. If a contractor says the driveway is recycled, ask which of those two they mean. One is a manufactured hot mix. The other is a reused milling spread and rolled. The price structure and the maintenance are different, and the quote should not use one name for the other.

The ticket still weighs everything

The scale ticket weight includes the whole mix, recycled portion and new portion together. You do not subtract the RAP percentage from the tons and pay only for the new binder. If you need 12 tons of surface mix, you need about 12 tons on the ticket, even when a share of that mix started as old pavement. For a planning estimate, compacted hot mix is about 145 pounds per cubic foot. One thousand square feet at 2 inches is 1,000 times 2 times 145 divided by 24,000, about 12.1 tons. That is a planning estimate. The plant ticket is the real weight. The RAP line explains composition. It does not erase pounds.

A practical sequence

Ask what RAP percentage is in the mix the plant will load.
Confirm that percentage fits the spec for that mix name.
Keep loose millings and RAP-in-new-mix as separate products on the quote.
Count the full ticket weight, recycled share included, against the tons you planned.

The mistake to skip

Subtracting the RAP percentage from the tons, as if recycled material weighed nothing.

Questions people ask

Is a RAP mix the same as a millings driveway?

No. RAP percentage means reclaimed pavement blended into new hot mix at the plant. Loose millings spread as a surface are a different material. Ask the quote which one you are buying. The hot mix still has a mix name, a binder, and a ticket weight that includes the whole load.

Do I deduct RAP from the tonnage?

The ticket weighs the whole mix. A planning estimate at 145 pounds per cubic foot already describes compacted hot mix, whatever share of it is RAP. One thousand square feet at 2 inches is about 12.1 tons as a plan. The plant ticket is the real weight. The percentage describes the recipe, not a discount on pounds.

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