Tarmac supplies new rubberised asphalt to Leicestershire road project

The UK-based city County Council will resurface the A426 Blaby Bypass with 4,800 tons of rubber asphalt from Tarmac

Tarmac has sealed with Leicestershire County Council the biggest supply to date of a new rubberised asphalt, reports the company on its website. The English city will resurface the A426 Blaby Bypass with 4,800 tons of Tarmac's asphalt. The product incorporates rubber from around 3,300 waste car tyres.

Locally supplied from the leading sustainable construction solutions company's Mountsorrel Quarry, the new rubber modified asphalt combines end of life tyres with warm mix asphalt technology, which results in a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

The asphalt is supplied at lower temperatures than traditional mixes, reaching the appropriate temperature sooner and allowing roads to reopen and get traffic moving quicker.

Leicestershire County Council was awarded GBP 5 million from the Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund and the Department of Transport to carry out works, which include resurfacing and strengthening sections of the carriageway at the end of their life cycles. The council was supported in its bid by the team at Tarmac, who provided sustainability benefits with the warm mix and rubber modified asphalt technology.

Compared to conventional hot mix asphalt, the use of the warm mix technology saves over 14 tons of CO2 in total. Tarmac's rubber modified asphalt incorporates the rubber of about 500 waste stream tyres in every kilometre of highway surfaced, reducing around 150,000 tons of rubber waste which the UK sends every year to countries in North Africa.