Improving and Developing Pavement Design Inputs and Performance Functions for Cold Recycled Pavement Layers in Minnesota

Status: Complete
Report Date: 02/17/2026

Summary:

Cold recycling technologies are being used for flexible pavement rehabilitation because of their economic and environmental benefits. The three main cold recycling methods for rehabilitating pavement layers in Minnesota are cold in-place recycling (CIR), cold central plant recycling (CCPR), and stabilized full depth reclamation (SFDR). The recycled layers contain reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and aggregate base (in the case of SFDR), stabilized with asphalt emulsion or foamed asphalt and optionally active fillers (cement or lime). Due to the composition of these mixtures, they behave as partially bonded (in between granular base and hot-mix asphalt) materials. Currently, this material behavior is inadequately characterized, resulting in overdesigned pavement structures. The main goal of this research is to improve the current pavement analysis and design methodologies to appropriately characterize and evaluate cold recycled pavement layers.

Final Deliverables:

Improving and Developing Pavement Design Inputs and Performance Functions for Cold Recycled Pavement Layers in Minnesota (Report #2026-12)
Appendix E: Programmed Predictive Tool (Spreadsheet #2026-12E)
Assessing Recycled Pavement for Use in Road Designs (Research Summary)

Related Materials:

Related Research:

Cold Central Plant Recycling (CCPR) – National Road Research Alliance (NRRA)

Project Personnel:

Principal Investigator: Eshan Dave
Co-Principal Investigator: Jo Sias
Technical Liaison: Timothy Andersen
Project Coordinator: Marcus Bekele
Panel Members:
    Bob Ehlert - Ottertail County
    Ceren Aydin - Materials & Road Research
    Charles Kremer - District 7
    Chuck Grotte - Ottertail County
    Dan Schellhammer - Midstate Reclamation, Inc.
    David Van Deusen - Metro District
    Mark Callahan - Scott County, MN
    Raul Velasquez - Materials & Road Research