Asphalt & Bitumen Calculator

Multiply length by width by compacted depth in feet, then by the mix density (about 145 lb per cubic foot), and divide by 2,000 to get tons of asphalt; multiply those tons by the binder content (about 5%) to get the bitumen inside it. A cubic yard of hot mix weighs about 1.96 tons (1.78 metric tonnes), and each inch of depth over a square yard takes about 109 lb.

US tons of compacted mix at 145 lb per cubic foot, before the 5 to 10% you add for waste. A new residential driveway is usually 3 to 4 inches, and an overlay 1.5 to 2. At $100 to $200 a ton, the 12 x 40 ft driveway at 3 inches needs $870 to $1,740 of hot mix before waste.

Asphalt is bought and sold by weight, so the calculator converts volume to tons: the cubic feet you're paving times the density of the mix. The binder split then divides that weight into bitumen and aggregate.

Formulas: volume (ft³) = length × width × (depth ÷ 12). Tons = volume × density ÷ 2,000. Tons to order = tons × (1 + waste % ÷ 100). Binder tons = tons to order × binder % ÷ 100, and aggregate is the rest. Metric tonnes = tons × 0.9072, and 145 lb/ft³ is 2,323 kg/m³ (conversion factors from NIST).

In metric mode the inputs are metres, millimetres and kg/m³. Volume (m³) = length × width × (depth ÷ 1,000). Tonnes = volume × density ÷ 1,000, and the waste and binder steps are the same. Binder litres = binder kg ÷ 1.03. The default density converts to 2,322.7 kg/m³. The cost range stays in US dollars per US short ton, so the calculator converts the tonnes to order to US tons (1 US ton = 907.18 kg) before pricing them.

The 145lb/ft³ default is typical for standard hot mix. Swap it for your supplier's figure if they give you one, since the 140 to 160 range is wide enough to shift the tonnage by a few percent. Every table on this page is generated from the same constants and formulas as the calculator, so the numbers agree with each other.

Asphalt per square yard

Paving crews often price parking lots and roads by the square yard. At 145 lb per cubic foot, each inch of compacted depth over a square yard weighs 108.75 lb. The Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association calculator uses 110 lb, within about 1% of this.

Worked example

A 12 x 40 ft driveway at 3 inches is 12 × 40 × 0.25 = 120 ft³. At 145 lb/ft³ that is 120 × 145 ÷ 2,000 = 8.70 tons. With 5% waste you order 9.14 tons (8.29 metric tonnes). At 5% binder, 0.46 tons (914 lb, about 106 gallons) of that is bitumen and 8.68 tons is aggregate. At $100 to $200 a ton, the mix costs $914 to $1,827.

Bitumen, asphalt, tarmac and blacktop

The names vary by region. Americans say asphalt or blacktop, while the UK and much of the world say bitumen or tarmac. Engineers use bitumen or asphalt binder for the black glue alone and hot mix asphalt for the finished mix of binder and stone. You buy the finished mix by the ton, which is what this calculator works out.

Where the price range comes from

The $100 to $200 per ton material range comes from Bob Vila's cost guide. It is a published range rather than a national average, because no primary source publishes an average for finished hot mix. As a check, Grayson County, Texas received March 2026 bids of $91.00 to $114.75 per ton for hot mix delivered to its precincts, and $81.00 to $96.75 picked up at the plant. Get a local quote before you budget.

For an installed estimate, or to compare against concrete or gravel, use the Driveway Cost Calculator with the same dimensions. For the gravel base under the asphalt, use the Gravel Calculator, and for any other fill in cubic yards, the Cubic Yard Calculator.

How to calculate bitumen quantity in asphalt

Bitumen tons = tons of mix × binder % ÷ 100. Hot mix is mostly stone. NJDOT's Hot Mix Asphalt 101 describes it as about 5% binder and 95% aggregate by weight, and gives typical binder contents of 4.5 to 6% for dense-graded mixes and 5 to 7% for stone matrix asphalt (SMA). This calculator defaults to NJDOT's 5%, and you can enter your mix design's figure instead. Gallons use a binder specific gravity of 1.03 at 60 °F (Pavement Interactive), about 8.6 lb per gallon.