Carlsbad is one of 20 California cities receiving part of a $2.3 million grant to fund road repairs using recycled tires.
Funding from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery will let the California cities use rubberized pavement - a blend of ground waste tire rubber and traditional paving materials - to create cost-effective roads.
Under the newly approved funding, Carlsbad will receive $191,000 in grant money. The maximum grant for any city under the program is $350,000.
“These road repair projects make use of thousands of California waste tires that might otherwise wind up in our landfills or illegally stockpiled in our communities,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said in a statement. “CalRecycle’s Rubberized Pavement Grant Program helps turn our old tires into a resource that makes roads safer and saves money on infrastructure projects.”
Rubberized Asphalt Concrete, or RAC, uses about 2,000 waste tires per lane mile. The method, which puts a two-inch overlay on existing roadways, is ideal for high-traffic roads.
Each year, 45 million tires are wasted in California alone, according to CalRecycle.
The grants are funded from a portion of a $1.75 fee consumers pay when they buy new tires in California.
