Why Aren’t More Roads Made of Rubberized Asphalt Concrete?
September 23, 2008 · Print This Article
Over 240 million tires are thrown out every year in the U.S., and where do they go? According to RideLust, fewer than 7 percent get recycled, 5 percent are exported to other countries, 11 percent are burned for fuel and the rest are either sent to landfills, stockpiled or illegally dumped. But, there’s a very eco-friendly and easy-to-incorporate use for all of these tires: rubberized asphalt concrete, a material made from shredded rubber mixed with asphalt. RAC roads are known for making better roads that need less maintenance, yet it’s still not being used on all of the roads in the U.S.
From RideLust:
Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) does work better.
1. Using RAC clearly reduces road noise by as much as 85%
2. Applying a two-inch layer overlay of RAC can save $50,000 per lane mile compared to using four inches of conventional asphalt in the same application
3. An overlay of RAC can prevent cracks in underlying pavements from reflecting through to the surface of the new paving
4. RAC retains its original color better than conventional asphalt and markings remain more visible
5. Using RAC saves on maintenance costs, a properly designed application can last 50% longer than use of standard asphalt
6. RAC provides better traction and can reduce traffic accidents in poor weather
So, what’s the holdup? Lobbyists, as usual. The government is in charge of building the streets, and politicians choose the companies that get the contracts. The biggest corporations can afford the best lobbyists – the ones that will do practically anything to get big projects for their bosses. As noted by RideLust, there’s no incentive to use RAC even though it’s far more eco-friendly and superior to the materials currently being used for most roads. Of course, using tires in RAC roads isn’t a miracle answer to all the tire waste in the world, but it can help. Too bad greedy corporations are holding up progress, as they tend to do.
Link [RideLust]
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Hey,
I’m the one who wrote the article. My point wasn’t that greedy corporations are holding up progress, in fact the total opposite. If we sold the streets to those very corporations, they’d be better maintained. I was saying that it’s the government’s fault that we don’t have the best solutions. The streets are maintained by a monopoly, and monopolies are always bad. The government is that monopoly, they stifle competition by giving contracts to corporations that donate the most, but the corporations are only participating in a system set up by government. Take government out of the equation by privatizing the roads, and we wouldn’t have a problem.