## 1 Introduction  
With the constant increase heavy-traffic flow, heavy axle loads, and the traffic channelization of modern highway traffic, early rutting failure has been regarded as a serious issue confrontingasphalt pavement in China, especially in high-temperature areas in summer [1; 2]. To solve the early rutting failure of asphalt pavement, it is necessary to research a new type of modified asphalt with excellent thermal stability. At the same time, it should meet the requirements of durability, such as fatigue resistance, low-temperature cracking resistance, and the moisture susceptibility etc., of asphalt pavement. To gain a more satisfactory pavement performance, rock asphalt (RA)-modified asphalt has attracted research interest in recent years, due to its excellent properties [3; 4; 5; 6; 7]. Many studies on RA have been performed. [PERSON] et al. investigated the performance of European RA-modified asphalt mixture, and found that the aging resistance, temperature susceptibility, and high-temperature behavior of RA-modified asphalt binder were improved considerably as the RA content increased [8]. [PERSON] studied the microstructure, modified mechanism, and viscoelastic behavior of North American rock asphalt (NA RA), and found that its modification effect was excellent [9]. [PERSON] et al. found that NA RA can reduce the relax potential and increase the stiffness of bitumen mastics [10]. [PERSON] et al. studied the pavement performance of Buton RA mixture, and found that rock mineral the in raw materials of Burton RA have a significant effect on the pavement performance [11]. [PERSON] et al. studied the effect of proportion of Buton RA on the performance of modified asphalt mixture with the wet method, and found that with the increase of RA percentage, the high temperature rutting resistance, moisture damage resistance, permeability resistance, stiffness, and strength of the modified asphalt mixture improve gradually to varying degrees [12]. The effect of production processes on the high-temperature performance of Buton RA mixture was performed by [PERSON] et al. [13]. The mechanism and performance of Buton RA modified asphalt were studied by [PERSON] et al. [14]. [PERSON] investigated the modification mechanism of Wuerhe RA from Xinjiang China [15]. A performance evaluation of petroleum bitumen binders and mixtures that were modified by natural RA from Wuerhe, Xinjiang Province, China was performed by [PERSON] et al. [16]. The modification mechanism and performance of Qingchuan RA from China-modified asphalt were investigated by [PERSON] et al. [17]. [PERSON] et al. investigated the performance of native RA and its modified asphalt mixture, but their studies do not focus on solving the rutting problem [18; 19; 20]. Although some research work has been carried out for RA, there are still some research gaps at this stage. Most existing studies mainly focus on some specific properties of the RA binder or the RA mixture, such as the fatigue property or the high-temperature property. At the same time, few studies have conducted investigations on the application of RA, based on anti-rutting performance, with respect to the comprehensive performance of the RA mixture. Further, it was found that since the properties of RA can vary significantly, depending on the type and proportions of the components, the RA properties and sources have a great influence on the modification results [21]. There are rich reserves of RA in the northern part of Sichuan Province, China, and only a few studies have conducted investigations on this. To solve the early rutting failure of the pavement, and to promote the use of North Sichuan rock asphalt (NS RA), it beneficial to systematically research the application of NS RA-modified asphalt, based on anti-rutting performance.