This study attempted to integrate the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) analysis into the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to explore the potential of terminal blend rubberized bitumen (TBRB) technology as a sustainable alternative to traditional paving materials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, the concept of environmental impact monetization is introduced for quantifying shadow prices to be used in cost–benefit analyses and encourage the adoption of sustainable technologies in pavement construction. The findings demonstrate that hot mixed asphalt (HMA) with TBRB outperforms asphalt mixtures with neat bitumen (NB) and polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) containing 7% linear styrene–butadiene–styrene, with respect to durability and environmental impacts. The cradle-to-grave analysis, which includes maintenance and rehabilitation cycles based on the MEPDG results, alters the hierarchy among scenarios compared to conventional cradle-to-gate analyses, highlighting the importance of the use phase in LCA. Overall, the asphalt mixture with TBRB exhibits 83% and 63% less global warming potential than mixtures with NB and PMB, respectively. The monetization process through the distance-to-target approach returned the shadow price of US$157 per metric ton of CO _2eq in the UAE. Based on this value, the HMA with TBRB, if selected over those with NB and PMB, offers environmental savings of US$47,186/km-lane and US$15,852/km-lane for the case study investigated.

Waste rubber from end-of-life tires has been proved to be an excellent source of polymeric material for paving applications. Over the years, however, the rubberized asphalt technology has never been used in ‘lean’ (low bitumen content) asphalt mixtures typically used in arid regions. This study offers an insight on the potential benefits and drawbacks resulting from this technology if applied in such ‘lean’ mixes. Results show that the ‘lean’ nature of those asphalt mixes eliminates the potential benefits given by the modified bitumen for rutting performance. Instead, the aggregates gradation plays a major role in the response of the materials, with gap-graded mixtures often outperforming those with a dense-graded gradation. On the contrary, fatigue cracking resistance is affected by the bitumen properties, and rubberized asphalt perform better than others. The performance-based analysis suggests that the current specifications tend to overachieve the goal of reducing permanent deformation while cracking becomes a major concern which can be solved by using rubberized asphalt. In the field, gap-graded asphalt with rubberized bitumen showed the best response in terms of skid resistance and noise reduction.

High polymer-modified binders (HiPMBs) have recently been introduced in the Gulf region, where pavement structures are commonly subjected to severe climate conditions and heavy traffic loads because there is no enforcement of weight limits. Local agencies are currently modifying quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) policies to accommodate such technology. In this study, HiPMBs produced by different refineries were subjected to physicochemical and thermal characterizations to investigate the compositional variability of industrial HiPMBs. Their thermal and stress susceptivity was then assessed through multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) tests. The validation of the MSCR-based hierarchy was performed by assessing nine hot mix asphalts (HMAs) through repeated load permanent deformation tests and performing mechanistic-based structural analysis. Results showed that styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) is not the only modifier added to the bitumen, as commonly done in laboratory settings. These undisclosed modifiers disrupt the correlation between MSCR results and SBS concentration typically observed in laboratory-prepared HiPMBs, highlighting the importance of investigating plant-produced binders. Moreover, higher temperatures and stress levels returned different MSCR performance hierarchies among binders, questioning the effectiveness of the current MSCR test protocol for HiPMBs. Additionally, findings confirmed that the current MSCR testing protocol does not correctly assess the bitumen response in HMAs. A higher MSCR stress level shall be prescribed in the local QA/QC specifications to ensure the correct selection of HiPMBs in the region. This study can be used as a framework for other countries actively engaged in the implementation of HiPMBs and novel bituminous materials.