"Green roads" get State's green light: State Board promotes recycling tires into city streets, June 13, 2006, Press Release

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California Integrated Waste Management Board

"Green roads" get State's green light: State Board promotes recycling tires into city streets

SACRAMENTO—Cities wanting to upgrade their roads and streets with long-lasting, traffic-noise cutting rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC) got the green light from the California Integrated Waste Management Board in the form of multiple funding allocations that literally help pave the way.

The Board approved $625,000 in Targeted Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Incentive Grants to help four Southern California cities divert tons of waste tires away from disposal by incorporating them in downtown and neighborhood street paving projects.

"In California, it's only natural to be green and that should include our roadways," said Board Chair Margo Reid Brown. "Our extensive travel corridors can be models of efficiency on their own when paved with rubberized asphalt concrete."

Including this most recent allocation, the Board has approved 20 RAC grants totaling more than $3.1 million since January 2006. The money will help recycle thousands of waste tires back into city streets and repave several miles of roadways.

Funds from the Board's Targeted Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Incentive Grant Program help first-time and/or limited RAC users cover the difference in costs of using the material in lieu of conventional asphalt paving. The money comes out of the $1.75 the State collects on the sale of each new tire in California. A portion of the fee—75 cents—is allocated towards air emission programs.

The grants will be directed to help the local governmental agencies pave various streets in need of repairs in Fresno and Los Angeles counties. The following amounts were approved:

Fresno County
The City of Sanger will receive a total of $175,000 from the Board to pave neighborhood avenues with RAC.

Los Angeles County
The cities of El Monte, Lancaster and Torrance received allocations of $150,000 each from the Board to expand the use of RAC in street paving projects.

RAC has been successfully used in street paving projects by State and local transportation agencies throughout California and Arizona. Made by blending ground up waste tire carcasses with asphalt, and then applying the mix to road surfaces, a two-inch thick layer of RAC can save up to $20,000 per lane mile compared to a four-inch thick layer of conventional asphalt and use more than 2,000 waste tires over that distance. Moreover, RAC provides a long-lasting surface and superior wet weather traction, resists cracking, retains its original color so that road markings are more clearly visible, can significantly reduce traffic noise and has the potential to reduce the number and size of illegal waste tire dumpsites in California.

California produces more than 40 million waste tires annually. Although approximately 75 percent of this amount is recycled, the state faces the challenge of dealing with roughly10 million surplus tires annually in which the majority end up in our landfills and some of which end up in illegal stockpiles. Over the past few years, California has used nearly ten million waste tires in RAC paving projects, saving them from disposal.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is the State's leading authority on recycling and waste reduction. It promotes a zero waste California in partnership with local government, industry, and the public. This means reducing waste whenever possible, promoting the management of all materials to their highest and best use, and protecting public health and safety and the environment.