Researchers at the University of Missouri are experimenting with using plastic waste and other recyclable materials to pave traditionally asphalt roads and highways. Partnering with the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Mizzou Asphalt Pavement & Innovation Lab is using a portion of Interstate 155 in the Missouri Bootheel to try out alternate road surfaces in real-world traffic conditions.
All told, the researchers are testing nine different recyclable materials, including three different types of polyethylene as well as ground rubber tire. The idea is to develop solutions that are both sustainable and affordable.
“These projects afford us an opportunity to intentionally build the next generation of roads with these materials not as a type of linear landfill,” says Bill Buttlar, director of MAPIL, “but to also help the environment while making the value of dollars spent on transportation infrastructure like this stretch farther into the future.”
