In 2005 Ohio put ground tire rubber into 1 mile of King Road in Sylvania; 10 years later, the recycled section still matched the control at an 87% rating

On one side of the road, engineers applied a one-inch layer of ground tyre rubber as an asphalt overlay, while on the other side, a polymer-modified asphalt portion served as the control. The design of both blends met the Ohio Department of Transportation's requirements. The tyre rubber part and the control had the same pavement condition rating in every year reported in the study, which was a noteworthy outcome of ten years of monitoring. After four years, the rating reached 87%, and during the ten-year observation period, it barely altered. Rubber-modified asphalt is not always superior, according to the test. It has been shown that recycled tyre rubber can create a pavement section with long-term performance comparable to the conventional control under the conditions on King Road.How King Road became a test sectionThe project uses the existing flexible pavement on King Road, Sylvania. The Ohio field report published through the U.S. Department of Transportation research archive says the new surface was a one-inch overlay applied in 2005 across a one-mile stretch. Different asphalt binders were used in the northbound and southbound lanes. One lane employed a modified binder of tyre rubber, or GTR. The control part used a polymer-modified binder. Both were PG rated 76-22 and were formulated to fulfil Ohio DOT criteria for fine-graded asphalt mixes.The road wasn’t a super-heavy truck route. The analysis revealed that the average daily traffic is roughly 7,120 cars per day, of which about 142 are trucks per day. That is important since pavement performance is highly dependent on traffic, climate and the structure underneath the surface. Researchers then followed the two sections rather than judging them after the first few seasons. Their records covered performance and pavement distress over a full decade, allowing the comparison to show how the rubber-modified mix behaved as cracking and other damage developed.The 87% rating was keptThe most popping number from the project is the 87% pavement condition rating. After four years, the PCR increased to 87% and then remained fairly steady, while the GTR and polymer-modified parts had the same PCR score in all years studied, according to the research. There were no cracks in the pavement. Transverse cracks emerged after around 2 years; non-wheel-track longitudinal cracks after 4 years. The fissures became more severe with time. The fourth year was the moment when crack sealing was required. Still, the two parts moved closer together. The study followed both for 10 years and found them to perform well with no significant difference in the pavement condition assessment.These conclusions are further validated by a separate long-term assessment of many Ohio GTR programs. The King Road project was one of the comparisons with a polymer-modified control, and 10-year field data were part of the study on GTR asphalt performance and life-cycle costs.What the outcome showsRoad authorities can use material from discarded tyres to add tyre rubber to asphalt for building of pavements. Ground rubber can change the properties of the asphalt binder, but the ultimate result relies on the rubber, binder, aggregate, mix design, traffic and climate. King Road is thus a representative field example, not a universal formula. The good 10-year performance in the Ohio research itself may have been due to the increased asphalt content used in the combinations on King Road and the relatively low traffic flow on that road.The finding is nevertheless remarkable because the rubber piece didn’t only survive a few years. Over a decade of service, it remained equivalent to the polymer-modified control while reaching the same 87% PCR level. The comparison is especially important because both sides of the road have similar surroundings and traffic. The use of a control section was employed in an effort to assess if the rubber-modified surface was deviating from normal polymer-modified pavement rather than assessing its condition alone.The Ohio research subsequently incorporated the topic into a larger study of GTR pavement performance. That means the King Road project is a real-world test of recycled material against a conventional option. While the road didn't prove all tire-rubber pavement can last 10 years, it did indicate that in this particular one-mile stretch of Sylvania, the recycled method can hold its own over time.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.