Got some old tires and need a road?

[bcp]

Cut tires used as road substructure:

Jeff Labenz-Hough, HDR San Antonio, Presents Mechanical Concrete® at TAMU Kingsville Eagle Ford CREO Workshop » Reinforced Aggregates Company

Bruce

 

[PILOON]

While I see it as a economic practical method it would never pass environment regulations around here.
Heck they won't even let us bury crushed concrete or asphalt. The argument is that when decomposing it could contaminate ground water.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a lot of doubt that the tires are actually accomplishing anything and think that they will cause more problems then if they just built up the base without them. There are so many of these government funded feel good, save the planet projects out there that cost more to do with poorer results. The worse one I know of right now is a power plant that is being built a couple hours from here that is powered off of wood. The cost to build it is more then a conventional power plant and it costs more to run it then it generates in electricity created. I personally know one of the engineers in charge of water quality and was told it's all a big joke that they expect to last for only so long until it's closed down because of how inefficient it is. Federal Government funding in the billions to create it and no reliable source of wood to keep it running.

Eddie

 

[roadhunter]

Sounds just like a federal gubment disaster of a project. ^^^

It never ceases to amaze me how many rules and regulations there are in other parts of the country. Earlier this week the guy said the ceiling in his pole barn had to be inspected which I could not believe and now hearing that you can't bury concrete in some places just makes me happy to live somewhere so free.

I agree with Eddie as I dont' see what benefit those tires are going to give. They won't completely fill with gravel so there could be soft spots in the road if the top of the tire is empty.

 

[dave1949]

If the tires prevent the road surface from being squeezed outward, they might help. Asphalt and gravel roads with heavy loads tend to get rolled out to the sides, like rolling out pie dough.

I think it would take several applications of gravel after traffic used it until all the voids are packed, but there is noting preventing that from happening.

If the stone is allowed to get too thin, I don't know what happens if a snow plow blade hooks a tire.

 

[oosik]

The Public Works Dept in Anchorage, Ak tried using old tires for a road base in 1978. It was the road into the Municipal disposal site. Continued driving on the road caused the tires to work their way right up thru the gravel. It created a continuous and never ending maintenance problem - one year after the road was completed they tore the entire road out and replaced it using normal construction methods.

 

[Buggs67]

I've seen tires used to make retaining walls. Fill them with crushed stone and stack them offset and backset slightly. The stone acts as ballast and the tires contain it. Not pretty, but functional.

 

[timster2]

At a landfill haul road project I have seen shredded tires, two inch strips, put down as a mat and covered with gravel. Seems the tires provided a cushion and held the gravel from sinking into the landfill. Worked good for the haul road but I don't know how good it would be for public roads.

 

[chopped]

Thanks for posting this. Locally here we have one thats bene running for years. but it never took so much wood. Now when they log , most all the trees are chipped into trailers and trucked away. Some make their way be made into pellets.And most go to the electric power plant. So, on the negative side also its made firewood go through the ceiling. And its hard to find now. A log load (tree long uncut) Is so expensive if you can find someone who will sell it to you..And ad to that the '''kiln'' dried yuppy wood , There isnt much left for the long time "old timer' burners anymore.

I have a lot of doubt that the tires are actually accomplishing anything and think that they will cause more problems then if they just built up the base without them. There are so many of these government funded feel good, save the planet projects out there that cost more to do with poorer results. The worse one I know of right now is a power plant that is being built a couple hours from here that is powered off of wood. The cost to build it is more then a conventional power plant and it costs more to run it then it generates in electricity created. I personally know one of the engineers in charge of water quality and was told it's all a big joke that they expect to last for only so long until it's closed down because of how inefficient it is. Federal Government funding in the billions to create it and no reliable source of wood to keep it running.

Eddie

 

[tcreeley]

Locally we have some swampy areas where the gov used tires. The tires keep sinking and the roads need frequent work, It is shortcutting what needs to be done. Then they did discover the tires were leeching into the local water system.
Somebody's brother in law must have known somebody with a lot of tires they wanted to sell for a good price!