In true innovative GreenDOT style, MassDOT is making pavements more sustainable by recycling old rubber tires for use as part of the actual roadway.
This innovation benefits our customers, MassDOT’s bottom-line and environmental stewardship.
The new pavement uses 18% recycled ground tire rubber in the liquid asphalt binder, which recycles about 2.2 tires per ton of asphalt. In total, as many as 123,000 tires disposed of in Massachusetts will be incorporated into three paving projects on Rt 128 in Waltham, I-90 in Weston, and I-91 in West Springfield.
Even better, testing shows that rubber pavements are quieter than standard pavements and help make the road more resistant to rutting and cracking. This is good news for our customers and for MassDOT in reduced maintenance costs.
Since MassDOT started using this more sustainable pavement in 2008, more than 1,000,000 tires have been recycled statewide. Sustainability benefits go beyond just the life cycle cost and engineering performance to reduction in landfill waste, energy savings and reduced consumption of natural resources.
Just as an aside, I remember Nate Wiseblood (design consultant to the turnpike and any other entity associated with it) was experimenting with this process when we were working on the reconstruction of the turnpike back in 1970-71. He convinced someone at Palmer Paving in Palmer to let him introduce tires to one of the asphalt tanks and apparently destroyed the tank. I think he had running tracks in mind, but knowing Nate he could have been thinking about the pike as well. Obviously, this was over 40 years ago. Too bad no one continued the research locally. Or maybe they did, I'm not sure.
Posted by: Kelley Johnson | January 10, 2013 at 10:54 AM