Caltrans Section 39 specification changes
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One of our most highly rated presenters walks you through highlights of recent changes to Caltrans Section 39 asphalt specifications, including incorporation of elements of “Superpave” testing and acceptance. Toni Carroll is the Northern California Area Manager, Technical Services, for Vulcan Materials.
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Caltrans Section 39 specification changes
- 1. Section 39: 2015 Toni Carroll Vulcan Materials
- 2. Where did Superpave Go? New specifications still Superpave oriented Now referred to as 2015 Specifications Current RSS for 2010 specification IS the 2015 specification
- 3. Revised Standard Specifications Also referred to as “RSS” Used to update standard specification Can be found at: http://dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/oe/constructio n_standards.html
- 7. Priority of Specifications 1. Special Provisions 2. Applicable RSS 3. Standard Specifications
- 8. QCQA? Caltrans subtask group began work on 2/25/15 Reviewed most recent version of QC/QA specs Working off of old spec with new suggestions Next Meeting 4/17/15 in Sacramento
- 9. Rubber Usage in California AB 338 Caltrans needs to use CRM in 35% of the total HMA placed statewide each year 2013: 22.9% 2014: Also did not meet
- 10. Rubber Usage in California Memo issued to Caltrans Districts on 2/10/15 Mandates the use of RHMA-G & RHMA-O as the surface courses of choice for all jobs bidding after April 1, 2015 The exceptions to this rule are as follows: ◦ If surface course is <1000 tons ◦ If job is bid as stage construction and each stage is <1000 tons ◦ If road elevations is >3000ft ◦ If ambient temperature <45°F ◦ If used as a concrete pavement asphalt base or bond-breaker If field blending is not possible, PG-M (terminal blend) can be used
- 11. Change to Dense Mix? Needs approval by District Director Documented in job file Decision forwarded to State Pavement Engineer
- 12. Rubber Temp Requirements 50°F-54.9°F: ◦ MTV Required ◦ Required use of warm mix additive technology (chemical additive, not foaming) 45°F-49.9°F: ◦ MTV Required ◦ Required use of warm mix additive technology ◦ Required use of end dump trucks ◦ Required use of intelligent compaction <45°F: ◦ Placement suspended until higher temperature reached
- 13. Changes to RHMA (10-17-14) Submit local air district permit for rubber blending equipment Tarp trucks if atmospheric temp is <70°F unless travel time is <30 min
- 14. Changes to RHMA (10-17-14) Additional QC testing required for binder If first 3 lots pass, testing frequency reduced to once for every 3 lots Acceptance samples taken once per day or every 5 lots, whichever is greater
- 15. Test Turn Around Times Caltrans issued Construction Policy Bulletin 15-1 on 3/23/15 “Acceptance Sampling & Testing of Job- Produced Materials” Provides guidance for materials acceptance sampling & testing for job- produced materials. http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/construc/manual20 01/CPBindex.HTM
- 16. Before Work Begins Discuss testing at Pre-Con meeting ◦ Identify high priority tests ◦ Shipping of samples ◦ Lines of communication for test results ◦ Timeframes for reporting quality control and acceptance test results ◦ Any contractual testing dispute resolution processes.
- 17. During the Course of Work Sample & Test in accordance with Section 6-107 “Material Acceptance Sampling & Testing” of the Construction Manual Acceptance samples are to arrive at testing labs within following timeframes: ◦ 1 business day if within 50 mi of lab ◦ 2 business days if more than 50 mi from lab Contractor to be notified of all acceptance test results within 2 business days of receipt from laboratory Contractor has access to all test results and copies will be provided upon their request
- 18. Aggregate Size Not located in the Special Provisions any longer Determine from Project Plans & Standard Specifications
- 19. HMA (Dense Mix)
- 20. RHMA-G
- 21. Placement Required use of MTV for all rubberized and OGFC Required use of Nuclear Gage
- 22. QC Nuclear Density Testing Required to perform QC Nuclear Gauge Density (CT375) for all non- minor jobs 3 per 250 tons or 3 per paving day (whichever is greater) Not used for acceptance, still using cores for acceptance ◦ Cores not required if using Method Compaction
- 23. Verification Changes Must verify with plant set within 0.2% of OBC binder content Only two tries for free, additional tries are $3000
- 24. Verification Sample Tonnages 120 lb for each Coarse Agg 80 lb for each Fine Agg 10 lb for each Supplemental Fine Minimum of 50 lb from each RAP stockpile or 100 lb from the belt Total Agg: >460lbs-630lbs (1/4 Ton!) HMA: ≥250lbs ◦ Likely will need ≈650-1000lbs (1/4-1/2 Ton!)
- 25. Sample Locations QC samples from anywhere per CT125 QA TSR & Hamburg sampled from: ◦ At the plant From Conveyor system From a windrow laid down at plant From a silo or batch plant discharge ◦ Automatic sampling device at the truck ◦ Windrow at job site All other QA HMA samples from: ◦ At the plant From Conveyor system From a windrow laid down at plant From a silo or batch plant discharge ◦ Automatic sampling device at the truck ◦ Windrow ◦ Mat behind the paver
- 26. JMF Modifications Now need new JMF if changing binder source, LAS producer, or LAS dosage Can do a modification instead of full mix design instead Only test at OBC Caltrans verifies Hamburg, Air Voids, VMA, DP, & TSR (if desired) Each modification costs $2000
- 27. Dispute Resolution Third party lab used for dispute resolution must be AMRL accredited.
- 28. Test Method Changes LP-9 RAP Combined Gradation: Renamed CT 384 LP-12 WMA Foam: Renamed CT 386 LP-13 Smoothness: Renamed CT 387
Editor's Notes
- Over the last year Section 39 undertook a large amount of changes. As you all hopefully know, we’re now producing mixes using the gyratory compactor that are coarser and tighter in specs than our Hveem mixes before. We’ve also instituted a rutting test that will hopefully help our roads last longer and perform better. Even with all the recent changes, we’re still moving forward with more modifications and trying to make our State’s black pavements the best that they can be.
- Currently if you look on the Caltrans website, or even in your jobs special provisions, you won’t see the words “Superpave” as the current spec has been lovingly called in the past. The “Superpave” Section 39 specification is now being referred to as the 2015 specification but the 2015 specification book hasn’t been released yet so it has been put into the spec as an RSS. The Current Section 39 RSS for 2010 IS the 2015 specification for Section 39.
- I know that’s all a bit confusing. As a state we are still operating off of the 2010 specifications. But weren’t the 2010 specifications based on Hveem mixes? Yes. So let me explain that. No specification is perfect. Not only are there improvements that can be made on the specification but new research and technologies come out that warrant changes to our specifications between when Caltrans releases each new specification book. Caltrans works with Industry in task groups and develops these changes and releases them on their website (and in special provisions) as “Revised Standard Specifications” or “RSS”s. These RSSs can be found with a copy of the original specification at the Caltrans site shown on this slide.
- When you are bidding a job, you’ll be looking at the standard specifications and standard plans noted in the bid package, the special provisions (aka the specifications in the bid package), and an RSS.
- Sometimes your special provisions will note that the most recent RSS is to be used but most commonly the chosen RSS will be at the very end of your Special Provisions packet. Typically the RSS that was most recent at the time of bid book release is the one that would be used.
- RSSs contain any applicable changes since the release of the standard specification. Since there a multiple RSSs that are released between books, the dates of the RSS that made the change is noted to the right side of the specification. The RSS will instruct you to delete, add, or replace parts of the standard specification and can make a huge difference in your bid process specifically in your 2010 specifications where we started with HVEEM and are now specifying gyratory mixes.
- It might be a little overwhelming to think that you may have three different specification pieces that may all have different instruction on how to pave your job. Keep in mind that the Special Provisions supersede everything else, then the applicable RSS comes in and its changes supersede the Standard specifications. Your standard specifications will generally have everything else you need.
- With that said, lets get into some of the questions and changes that have happened in the last year. We know that we’ve moved from Hveem specification to Gyratory specifications but what else? Many have been wondering where Caltrans is with putting together a QC/QA specification for the current section 39 RSS. Caltrans started a subtask group to write this part of the specification which includes both Industry and Caltrans participants. They began work on this project on February 25 of this year and started by reviewing our most recent version of QC/QA specifications and making notes to what should be changed. They have since been working diligently to discuss these proposals and the next meeting is April 17 in Sacramento. They hope to have the QCQA specification ready within the next year but it will take some time. Superpave Subtask group meetings are becoming Section 39 Meetings in April 2014, are tasked with examining possibility of QCQA but may not look anything like it does today as well as developing RSSs for section 39. If you are interested in participating, which I highly recommend, you can contact Tony Limas w/ Granite Construction or Pascal Mascaranas w/ Vulcan to get more information and be added to the list serve.
- One major event that occurred in February was in regards to the quantity of rubber surface courses we’ll be seeing going forward. Back in 2005 California was drowning in waste tires and looking for ways to keep them out of our landfills. AB 338 was created by legislature which requires Caltrans to use a specific percentage of CRM per metric ton of the total amount of asphalt paving materials it uses each year. By 2013 Caltrans was supposed to be replacing approximately 35% of its total HMA placed statewide with mixes using rubber. In 2013 Caltrans only achieved 22.9% and 2014 was not much better. Due to this deficit, Caltrans took up the torch this year to look for more ways to get rubber into our asphalt mixes. The initiative was initially called the PG+5 proposal where Caltrans was looking for ways to get 5% rubber into all of our black pavement mixes across the state. There has been a lot of push back from industry on this idea and several alternatives were suggested instead. One of those has already taken shape.
- On February 10 of 2015, Caltrans issued a memo to its districts mandating the use of RHMA-G and RHMA-O as the surface course of choice for all jobs bidding after April 1. There are some exceptions to this mandate but in general you will likely be seeing a lot more rubber bidding this year as a result. Concerns about availability of rubber plants and the cost of these types of mixes versus dense mixes have been raised but we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out over the next year or two while this issue of not meeting our California legislature is resolved. The Highway Design Manual Chapter 630 “Flexible Pavements” is undergoing significant update to be released in Spring 2015, in the interim, the following guidance should be used:
- Some of you might be thinking that your district hates rubber and won’t want to design with it or that you may want to request a change order to get it changed to dense mix instead of rubber on one of your jobs. Caltrans addressed those possibilities as well and added accountability for the districts. Any changes to jobs that are not excluded from this mandate, either in the design phases or later on, will need to be approved by the district’s director, documented in the job’s file, and the decision will be forwarded to the state pavement engineer.
- In that same memo, there were also new requirements being issued if you choose to place Rubber below 55 degree F. All jobs using rubber must use an MTV per the new super pave specification.
- Temp changes were required for method before, but are required for ALL jobs now.
- Another initiative that was spearheaded this year was an attempt to reduce the test result turnaround time between Caltrans and Industry to support good communication and more timely reactions to poor results. A subtask group has been working diligently on this for almost a year and on March 23 Caltrans issued Construction Bulletin 15-1 on “Acceptance Sampling & Testing of Job-Produced Materials”. The bulletin can be found at the link on this slide. The bulletin gives guidance on steps to take before and during paving that will keep the test result turnaround times within a reasonable time period.
- Before work begins, your pre-con meetings will now have a discussion topic on testing during the job. As a team, you are to identify the high priority tests, how and when the samples will be shipped, who the test results will be communicated to, when they will be communicated and what you will do if the QA and QC samples do not correlate.
- During the course of work the bulletin outlines some strict timelines and sample requirements. It calls out section 6-107 of the Construction Manual which is the Material Acceptance Sampling and Testing which outlines when samples should be taken and in what quantities. The bulletin also sets timelines for how long it will take to get samples from the job site to the lab for testing. If the job site is within 50 miles of the lab, the sample should get to the lab within one business day. If it is over 50 miles from the lab, it should get there within 2 business days. Once received at the laboratory, Caltrans is required to test report all acceptance test results to the contract within 2 business days of when they received the sample a the lab. In addition, the contract will have access to all tests results performed by Caltrans and copies should be provided to the contractor upon their request. -except where specific sampling or test method requirements preclude doing so (for example, curing of specimens prior to transport).
- 0.1’ HMA is 3/8” HMA 0.25’ HMA is ¾” HMA or 1” HMA Different Chart for Rubber, OG, etc.
- 0.2’ is ¾”
- Spec meant to level the playing field and help ensure a quality, compacted mix Turn in results with other production test reports but is report only
- 3 gyro pucks 14,100 grams 6 TSR pucks 21,600 grams 4 Hamburg pucks 9200 grams 2 rice samples 3000 grams 2 oil content samples 3000 grams 1 moisture content 500 grams Total sample 51400 grams or 113.32 lbs.
- TSR & Hamburg not pulled from Mat because of large amount of material