California County seeks rubberized asphalt grant

San Diego County in California is progressively dealing with the ban on landfilling whole tires. The County Board of Supervisors recently cast a unanimous vote to request a $50,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to offset the county’s rubber asphalt project. The expected cost of the project is as high as $5 million and could go higher.

The county began a pilot project in 2002 to test the results of rubberized asphalt. The results showed a definite improvement on not only maintenance considerations but also in noise reduction – a decrease in road noise of four to six decibels.

In order for the project to receive grant funds, the concrete content must contain crumb rubber created from waste tires in California and the project must be large enough to utilize 2,500 tons of paving material.