Using used tires to make better roads

Only been doing that for about 20 years. More like trying to do it because the wire in the beads messes up the tire shredder. End result was it was cheaper to use "block polymers" in the mix. Airport runways were some of the first to use this Modified Asphalt Binder because the cost was higher. Then some racetracks.
 
I know there is a few rest stops in Texas where the walking trails and stuff like that is all made from shredded tires. Its acutally pretty nice to walk on after a long drive. They have little signs next to them explaining the process.

The rest stops in Texas are like little parks, you can take a couple laps around then go inside to use the restroom or get vending machine sodas.
 
Nick1994 said:
They did it here in Phoenix years ago. Didn't work out.
Click to expand...
“Average life expectancy of rubberized asphalt is ten years,” Bullen said.
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Which is longer than the life of conventional asphalt. And it did last for 10 years. When 10 years were up, the government neglected to budget money and obtain contracts to replace it. The worn out pavement continued to deteriorate. This played nicely into the hands of paving companies who want the public to think that rubberized is bad.
 
So, we keep saying pavement companies lobby against things like this...

Curious who we think places rubberized asphalt?

And our design life for a bituminous road is... drum roll... 10 years between mill and overlays... And in reality, we go longer than that.
 
Behind closed doors they say don't bother submitting any proposal that isn't conventional. That appears to be what happened in Phoenix.
 
Accent Abuser said:
Sounds like a lot but the US alone generates 300 million annually. Tire waste is a huge problem worldwide and most "recycled" tires just end up sitting in a stockpile never being actually recycled.
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I know we need to absolutely do something with old tires. I'm just saying we don't toss enough of them to make 100% of our pavement use scrap tire rubber.
 
This material was used for the track and field track at the highschool my kids attend, this was done when I was a kid and our school didn't have a track s we'd run events on theirs. It was a fantastic surface to run on, much better than regular asphalt.
 
mk378 said:
Paving companies lobby hard against this. They don't want pavement that lasts longer.
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Not in my experience. Asphalt comes from crude oil, and paving companies don't really care where the asphalt comes from, as long as it meets the state mandated specifications. They'll put down any mix the state tells them to, and sometimes at a higher price. Higher price usually means higher profit for them.
This stuff is not to be confused with the surfaces of walking paths, running tracks, or the rubber mulch that is being used today. This is a process where the tire rubber is actually melted and incorporated into the asphalt itself. The properties of the rubber compounds contribute to the ELASTICITY of the asphalt. It is said that on some early asphalt runway applications, a single piece of aggregate can be pulled out, lifted 2 feet, and it will go back into place when let go.
If any of you remember driving on "WASHBOARDED" roads, that was the result of the lack of elasticity in the mix (binder). Any distortion of the surface was permanent, and wouldn't "spring back" into position.
Other things incorporated into roads are things like GLASS to supplement the aggregate mix. It can be a little sparkly in the sun, and can be tough on tire wear, but it works fine.
 
skyactiv said:
I know we need to absolutely do something with old tires. I'm just saying we don't toss enough of them to make 100% of our pavement use scrap tire rubber.
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Do the tires have an age limit?

I thought there were some dumps with huge stacks of tires? I'm wondering if they could be ground up for this.
 
supton said:
I thought there were some dumps with huge stacks of tires?
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p7XeSN.jpg
 
It's not the panecea once believed to be ...
I recently read an article from the Phoenix area that mentions the rubberized-asphalt roads are degrading just like "normal" asphalt. They were also meant to be "quieter" roads, but that effect wanes as they age. I'm not saying the rubber-roads are bad, but they are not the "perfect answer" once thought.

https://azbex.com/local-news/valley-rubberized-asphalt-is-failing/

Here's a discussion on another website about it:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/pho...bberized-asphalt-freeways-not-weathering.html


Here's an article that claims the rubber-roads are "cooler". However, note the date on the article; it's 2004. And the claims that the roads are "quieter" has now been disproven as they age. It also notes that the roads, while cooler at night, are hotter than concrete during the day, so the net effect in environmental temps are probably a wash.
https://www.roadsbridges.com/home/news/10586734/rubberized-asphalt-is-cooling-phoenix-streets


So, in summary, rubberized asphalt does this:
- supposed to be quiter, and is, but only for the first couple of years, then it's not any better than normal asphalt
- supposed to be cooler at night, and it is, but it's also hotter than concrete during the day
- supposed to last longer than regular asphalt, but it turns out that it degrades to about the same state

This reminds me of the law of unintended consequences ...
When you think something is "better", it just means you probably haven't used or studied it long enough in real world use. The concept of rubber-asphalt is a good one in theory, but in practice it's not really any better. It's probably not any "worse", but it's not "better" overall. And the one thing I've not been able to find any info on yet is how is the recycling of the rubberized-asphalt being handled? "Normal" asphalt is recycleable. Is the rubber-ashpalt as easily recycled? I can't find any good intel there yet, so the jury would still be out on that.

My point is that trying to recycle tires to solve that problem may have a detrimental effect in the challenge just getting passed to another industry; kicking the can down the rubber road. (Sorry - couldn't resist the pun!)
 
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