Home » Rubber-Modified Asphalt Grant funding available to counties for road projects

Rubber-Modified Asphalt Grant funding available to counties for road projects

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 26, 2018) – Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles Snavely announced today that a third round of Rubber-Modified Asphalt Grant funding will be made available to counties for road projects across the commonwealth.

Counties can apply for funding for either chip seal or thin asphalt overlay projects. Chip seal is a pavement surface treatment that combines one or more layers of liquid asphalt with one or more layers of fine aggregate. Asphalt overlay consists of a new layer of asphalt applied over an existing asphalt surface.

Rubber-modified asphalt contains rubber from recycled waste tires. Depending on the application, rubber-modified asphalt can reduce road noise, increase road life and reduce long-term maintenance costs. The use of rubber-modified asphalt also advances the cabinet’s goal of promoting the development of Kentucky markets for recycled waste tires and reducing the problem of illegal tire dumping.

The cabinet will perform short-term and long-term monitoring to assess the effectiveness of the rubber-modified asphalt projects. As a condition of the grant funding, counties will agree to pay for the application of an equivalent area of conventional asphalt chip seal or overlay to allow for comparison between conventional and rubber-modified asphalt.

Funding for this grant comes from the Kentucky Waste Tire Trust Fund, which receives funding from every new passenger tire sold in the commonwealth. In addition to providing funding for the development of markets for recycled waste tires, the fund also supports waste tire collection events, tire pile clean-ups, and grants for counties to manage waste tires.

Application packets will be emailed to all Kentucky counties. For more information, call or email B. J. Bland at (502) 782-6556 or [email protected].  You may also visit the division’s website at Grants | Recycling and Local Assistance.