Rubber meets road in West Valley

In March, the Maricopa County Department of Transportation will begin a series of rehabilitation and maintenance projects, which will include covering surfaces with rubberized asphalt, on more than 35 miles of roadways. The money for the work comes from $6.4 million in federal stimulus funds.

"This roadway rehab project will extend the service life of these roadways for decades, and, as an additional benefit to our environment, makes good use of thousands of old, discarded tires that would otherwise fill and pollute our landfills," said Maricopa County Supervisor Max Wilson.

MCDOT is requiring that construction contractors use a "rubberized asphalt" overlay paving process, which uses pulverized recycled tires collected throughout Maricopa County at Environmental Services waste sites.

West Valley projects include:

• 99th Avenue, Camelback Road to north of the Grand Canal service road.

• Bell Road, east of 114th Avenue to east of Burns Drive.

• Camelback Road, east of the Bullard Road alignment to Litchfield Road.

• Dysart Road, Camelback Road to Glendale Avenue.

• Lower Buckeye Road, Dean Road to 203rd Avenue.

• Reems Road, north of Olive Avenue to Peoria Avenue.

• R.H. Johnson Boulevard, Meeker Boulevard to Stardust Boulevard.

• Thunderbird Boulevard, 103rd Avenue to 99th Avenue.