When the Rubber Meets the Road

We all regularly decry the emissions from cars, but few of us recognize that the material we're driving on is also to blame.

Because the asphalt that paves US roads, the largest road network in the world, is made from the residue of distilled oil, the manufacture, transport, processing and application of asphalt all contribute to global warming and peak oil problems.

Experiments have been done to use vegetable-based oils as the binders in road asphalt, but studies are still being conducted on the longevity of such mixtures.

Enter RAC: rubberized asphalt concrete. RAC takes used tires that would normally be headed for a landfill, grinds them, and inserts them into the traditional concrete mixture, reducing the amount of crude oil necessary to create roads.

One wonderful side effect of this mixture is that the rubbery roads reduce highway noise significantly. Having driven on a test strip of RAC just outside of Seattle, I can attest to the roads being significantly quieter than traditional highway.

This test in Seattle, accompanied by others in Colorado, is to determine the durability of rubberized asphalt in northern climates. Assuming it goes well, expect to see rubberized asphalt paving many roads in years to come.

Comments

[Kristin R]

That is a really interesting bit of information. I hope that the tests go well and we can start the move from oil to tire roads. I am interested to see the results of after winter driving. Around my town, the roads are so badly filled with pot holes because of salting and plowing.

I just found your blog and have been happily reading through many of your posts, thanks for doing this interesting bit of research and sharing it with all of us.