Tire-Derived Aggregate Used in Roadway Repairs/CALRecycle Reimbursement Grant Program

Santa Barbara County Public Works partnered with the CalRecycle TDA program to reconstruct a failed roadway embankment using recycled tires for the Ortega Ridge Road Slide Repair project, restoring an unsafe road and diverting over 80,000 tires from California’s landfills in the form of Tire-Derived Aggregate (TDA) fill.

Ongoing settlement resulted in cracks growing up to six inches wide and deep. In 2015, the county closed the roadway. At that time, more than 30 inches of asphalt had been placed on the roadway over the years. This Project combined the use of TDA and Mechanically Stabilized Earth elements, “dubbed MSTDA”. Using this innovative combination, the county streamlined design and construction, reduced environmental impacts, created a smaller construction footprint, and realized cost savings.

This is one of 15 recent MSTDA and TDA backfill road repair solutions completed in 2019-2020 by public works departments in Santa Barbara, Tuolumne and Yuba Counties.

This…