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Marin County Uses State Grant to Seal Rural Roads With Recycled Tires

SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) -- Roads in unincorporated Marin County are getting an upgrade next week courtesy of recycled tires and a grant from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, also known as CalRecycle.

The Marin County Department of Public Works announced it will begin the $2 million project this coming Monday, using recycled tires and other materials to seal 19.6 miles of road. Construction will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, starting on Fallon Two Rock Road near Tomales in West Marin and Platform Bridge Road in Point Reyes.

During construction, roads in the Tomales area will be closed for one day with detours and Platform Bridge Road will be reduced to a single lane for one day. Residents of the two areas will be given advanced notice and the opportunity to coordinate essential travel during the closures.

Improving road conditions in unincorporated Marin County is a top priority for the Board of Supervisors, the county said in a statement. Applying the sealant now will save the county from expensive and time intensive reconstruction projects in the future, according to Eric Miller, principal civil engineer for the county's DPW.

Paving a California Road With Rubberized Asphalt
Paving a California road with rubberized asphalt. (CalRecycle File Photo)

Part of the project is funded by a $250,000 grant by CalRecycle to encourage the use of recycled tire material as a road sealant, with the remaining funding coming from Marin's Road and Bridge Rehabilitation fund.

"Using techniques like rubberized paving is a great way to simultaneously improve our road quality and support our community wide efforts to reduce Marin's carbon footprint," Rachel Calvert, DPW senior civil engineer, said in a statement. "Using old tires for preventative road maintenance stops them from becoming landfill waste or being illegally dumped, which ultimately would contaminate our environment."

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