South Sioux City, NE — Local company Barkley Asphalt took their asphalt pavement design to a new level with the addition of approximately 2 million plastic bags in the top three inches of the asphalt on Foundry Road near Siouxland Freedom Park. The first plastic road paved in Nebraska is part of an initiative to reduce plastic waste and experiment with recycled plastics to make streets and roads last longer.
The Nebraska Environmental Trust provided a $623,000 grant for the project. The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) researchers developed the formula used to mix the recycled plastic bags with the asphalt. NDOT and UNL researchers will monitor the road to see how it holds up.
According to Barkley Asphalt, their business focuses on “innovative techniques for design and construction of high-performance asphalt pavements used in new construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoration, or resurfacing.” Some of their services beyond asphalt paving include earth moving and grading, asphalt patching, project management, and parking lot striping.
