Recycling bituminous shingles in cold mix asphalt for high-performance patching repair of road pavements

Patching is one of the most common maintenance activity, in particular for potholes repair. If well designed as well as timely and properly applied, cold mix asphalt can be considered a successful patching repair practice. In fact, it represents a short or medium-period solution able to minimize further pavement distresses, particularly in the case of low- to medium-volume traffic roads. In this context, the inclusion of reclaimed materials constitutes a good way to promote wastes recycling, thus satisfying the actual increasing consciousness addressed to the environmental sustainability and natural resources conservation, but it could also enhance the mechanical properties of the cold mixes. In particular, bituminous roofing shingles can be a promising option to fulfil the abovementioned goals. Given this background, the present paper shows a laboratory mechanical characterization of a cold asphalt mixture for patching repair manufactured with reclaimed bituminous shingles. To this aim, several empirical as well as performance-related properties were investigated at different testing conditions, specifically selected for such materials. The laboratory characterization showed that a properly designed cold asphalt mixture including asphalt shingles seems able to guarantee enhanced performance demonstrating promising application as patching repair material for road maintenance activities.