Home » Rubber-modified asphalt grant recipients announced

Rubber-modified asphalt grant recipients announced

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 4, 2017) — The Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) today announced up to $465,753 in grant funding has been awarded for rubber-modified asphalt projects utilizing crumb rubber manufactured from waste tires.

Grant funding will be used for the application of chip seal or asphalt overlay to county or metro government roads. Chip seal is a road surface treatment that combines one or more layers of asphalt with one or more layers of fine aggregate, while asphalt overlay is a thin layer of asphalt applied over an existing asphalt surface. Both applications are intended to extend the life of an existing road.

The 2017 Rubber Modified Asphalt Grant recipients are: Butler County, Green County, Hancock County, Louisville Metro Government, Marion County and Webster County. Each grantee will go through a standard bid process for their respective projects, and funds will be awarded based on actual project costs.

Grant recipients will be required fund the installation of standard paving on a section of road similar in area, condition, and traffic pattern as the rubber-modified section. Recipients will also submit periodic reports assessing and comparing the conditions of the two road sections.

Other states who use these materials have found rubber-modified asphalt out performs standard asphalt, and where properly processed tire material is readily available, is comparable in cost as well.

EEC Secretary Charles Snavely said the cabinet is pleased to support the Rubber-Modified Asphalt Grant. “This program not only promotes market development for recycled Kentucky waste tires, but also assists with funding for improvements to their roadways, and with a product that may prove superior to standard asphalt in some applications.”

The grants are from the Waste Tire Trust Fund, established by the 1998 Kentucky General Assembly to receive a $1 fee from each retail sale of a new tire in the state. The fund helps manage millions of scrap tires generated in Kentucky each year and promotes market development for recycled tire products.