PCH project to cost $7M
By ALICE OLLSTEIN Special to the Daily Press
PCH Those stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Pacific Coast Highway can while away the hours contemplating the smoother, more durable and more sustainable surface underneath their wheels.
Last week, the California Department of Transportation began tearing up and repaving one lane of PCH from Temescal Canyon Boulevard to the McClure Tunnel. While it may seem impossible for a highway paving project to be environmentally friendly, CalTrans’ use of recycled tires in their Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) is just one of their many efforts toward sustainability.
Because California has more registered vehicles than any other state, it generates more than 40.2 million reusable and waste tires each year. Despite state efforts, about 1.5 million of these waste tires are illegally dumped or stockpiled, threatening public health, safety and the environment.
In 1989, the state Legislature passed the California Tire Recycling Act, mandating that the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) regulate and manage waste tires. CalTrans’ use of tires in its RAC paving has been rated the “Best and Highest use” by the CIWMB.
“It’s a way to reclaim old tires so they don’t sit around in some landfill,”explained CalTrans spokesperson Judy Gish.“RAC is not only cost- Brandon Wise ROUGH RIDE: Last week, the California Department of Transportation began tearing up and repaving one lane of Pacific Coast Highway from Temescal Canyon Boulevard to the McClure Tunnel. effective but can also reduce noise and provide significant environmental benefits.”
Gish says she has received “a lot of positive feedback” regarding the RAC used on PCH and in other Los Angeles projects.
According to Gish, RAC is used on about 15 percent of all CalTrans paving projects, including the I-710 Freeway repaving project from PCH to the I-405 in Long Beach and the I-405 HOV lane from Route 90 to I-10 and PCH. She reports that drivers laud the material as “wonderful, smooth, quiet.”
Besides their current use of RAC, CalTrans has demonstrated its commitment to the environment by using rocks excavated from various projects to make concrete for other projects, by employing low-sulfur diesel, alternative fuels, and particulate traps in their “Green the Fleet” effort and their stormwater program that captures pollutants from storm drains before the waste water can enter the ocean.
The $7 million PCH project is scheduled for completion in early 2009.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2008. Read the original PDF.