RAP moisture has no effect on the amount of RAP that can be added.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not Applicable
• D. Not Sure

Answer: (B)

Moisture in RAP matters because water brought in with reclaimed pavement does not carry any asphalt binder and must be dried off in the mixing process. When RAP is wetter, that water adds to the mix as moisture rather than contributing to the asphalt content, which lowers the effective binder in the finished mix. This can lead to insufficient coating, reduced bonding, higher air voids, and potential stripping, especially if the mix design assumes a certain binder content. Because of this, you can’t simply treat RAP as a fixed amount of dry material—the wetter the RAP, the less you can safely and effectively add without adjusting the drying time, fuel use, or binder content. In practice, operators measure RAP moisture and either dry it to an acceptable level before addition or adjust the mix design to compensate, ensuring the target asphalt content and performance are maintained. So the statement that RAP moisture has no effect on the amount of RAP that can be added is not true.