Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
Bitumen Rubber Asphalt (BRA) has been used in South Africa since the early 1980's with
varying degrees of success. There are projects which have perfomed exceptionally well
and have exceeded their design life, with one specific example of a BRA surfacing which is still performing well after 25 years. There are also BRA projects that have had their fair
share of problems with some recent projects having up to 20% of their asphalt placed
failing prematurely. This paper will cover the BRA experiences of contractors over the
past 10 years in South Africa, highlighting challenges experienced as well as measures
taken to limit risks of premature failure.