Find out why rubblizing is the best—and most sustainable—option for replacing concrete pavement with asphalt.

It is a common practice these days to replace old concrete roadways, walkways, parking lots, and other surfaces with asphalt paving, and the best and most sustainable options for replacing concrete paving with asphalt is rubblizing. Before rubblizing, it was normal procedure to break up the existing concrete, truck it to a landfill, and start over with the asphalt paving process. Rubblizing offers a much more sustainable and cost-saving option for using asphalt to replace concrete pavements.

The Details on Rubblizing

Rubblizing is the process of turning concrete pavement into rubble that is then used as part of the asphalt paving process.  Concrete is fractured using a machine made for the purpose until it is in small enough pieces. The crushed concrete is then used as an aggregate base for the new asphalt pavement.

There are numerous environmental and financial benefits to using rubblizing when replacing a concrete pavement with asphalt. As to the environmental and sustainability advantages, rubblizing eliminates both the need to remove the original concrete paving to a landfill and the greenhouse gases generated from shipping out the old concrete and shipping in new aggregates to serve as a base for the new asphalt pavement. 

In terms of savings, rubblizing also reduces the cost of replacing concrete with asphalt because it reducing shipping costs and having to purchase new aggregate materials. Furthermore, rubblizing also allows the original subbase to be utilized under the reused concrete aggregate, rather than having to build a new subbase.

Similarly, rubblizing creates a smoother surface than simply overlaying asphalt over the original concrete. The original concrete can still crack and shift, leading to an uneven asphalt topcoat.

At the end of the day, rubblizing is more sustainable and less expensive than other methods of replacing concrete with asphalt, and it is also faster! This allows for shorter lane closures, closed parking lots, and restricted walkways!

Tucker Paving has 25 years of experience in concrete and asphalt installation, maintenance, and repair. Contact us by calling (863) 299-2262 or by going online for your next concrete or asphalt project.