Putting Junk Into Our Roads

That highway you drive on today might have been part of another highway once. It might have been the residue of a cement factory or refuse from a mine. Maybe your old roof shingles are part of the road you drove on, or maybe last year’s tires. . The state department of transportation has recycled more than three-and-a-half billion pounds of stuff to mix with road-building materials. Senior Environmental Specialist Kevin Wideman says the list looks like this: 654 tons of ground tire rubber 2,800 tons of cement kiln dust 6,930 tons of shingles 22,300 tons of cold in-place recycled asphalt 29,400 tons of hot in-place recycled asphalt 51,200 tons of fly ash 51,600 tons of boiler slag 169,000 tons of steel slag 704,900 tons of recycled asphalt pavement 801,600 tons of mine chat Wideman says the 654 tons of ground-up tires used in the last four years is the equivalent of 83-thousand old car tires. And this might only be a start. Wideman says the department and its contractors are lookingor even more stuff to recycle to stretch road-building dollars and to build better roads.