Almost 4,000 tyres were used for the building of a road in Tavira. The municipal president said that the tyres used by municipal residents each year are sufficient for building 20 kilometres of road. In what is a pioneering development in the Algarve, the Tavira Council decided to re-use some 4,000 tyres for widening the EM 508 between the Capelinha roundabout and Fonte Salgada, in the parish of Santa Maria.

The measure is part of a policy that is environmentally sustainable but also makes financial sense.

Macário Correia, president of the Tavira Municipal Council told the Algarve Observer that this was the first experiment, but the signs were good and they were hoping to repeat it.

On a 2.5 kilometres stretch of road, a bitumen mixture was applied which made use of the rubber from recycled tyres. In total, 16% of the tyres worn out every year in the municipality will be re-used.

According to Macário Correia, the tyres used by Tavira residents are enough to surface 15 to 20 kilometres per year using this mixture and method, which is regarded as being more ecologically sound than the use of conventional asphalt made from oil. The president of the Tavira Council went as far as to say that the use of tyres could even become compulsory in the production and repair of roads throughout the municipality.

He told the Algarve Observer that they could possibly start to require this as the normal practice in job specifications.

In addition to the environmental benefits from using recycled rubber, the technique produces greater resistance to the spreading of cracks, thus guaranteeing the investment, as well as lower road noise.

The work on the EM 508 has now been completed at a cost of 227,685 euros. At present other work on municipal roads is at the tendering stage, but Macário Correia would not say which ones.

source: algarve observer