Rubber Sidewalks tried out in Washington

I hope they fix the potholes first.

May I suggest first installing rubber rooms for all those crazy bastards....

Well, they could rubber coat whole buildings...




haven't been to Washington, DC in a while, and didn't drive when I was there. Pothole city, eh?

Wow! How much my legs would appreciate THAT when I walk to work.


GREAT idea.

I have heard of this before, but I thought it was being done (experimentally) somewhere in the northeast -- like Oregon or something. I think it's a great idea, however there will always be resistance to new ideas like this, usually taking the form of cost. But if the cost of tire disposal (or non-disposal in the form of mountains of tires in a dump, which become a huge environmental problem) is taken into consideration and the ongoing costs of concrete maintenance, then there is hope that something can be accomplished. I know that in Canada, and so probably the US as well, reclaimed tires are often used to repair roadbed cracks. There are some flooring companies which make reclaimed rubber (from tires) tiles, but I've yet to find a client who is interested in them despite the great advantages of rubber as a flooring material (and aside from the environmental aspect).

I remember rubber floors being popular at some point, don't think they were recycled back then though. Didn't Pirelli make a flooring rubber? And they use rubber for some playgrounds, and a friend sent me a link on rubber as mulch a while back. That one didn't appeal to me for asthetic reasons, at least in my own yard.

I haven't a useful nose for smell, does rubber smell when it gets hot?

I would think that it does, but don't know for sure. The new (unrecycled) rubber flooring does offgas, and that distinctive smell my clients object to, however it wouldn't last for long, and I doubt if it's the same health risk as the less noticeable offgassing of vinyl wallcoverings and nylon carpeting, silicone and adhesives that are the foundation of most commercial interiors.

Thinking back -- I seem to recall that the play area at the Calgary zoo used rubber pellets as a ground cover. I'll see if I can dig up anything. I remember thinking that it was quite attractive.

And, like dlowan, I can soooo see the benefits of rubberized sidewalk for walking and jogging...

shredded recycled

This is interesting, but the Calgary zoo ground cover was more like small pellets. I'm sure that if I looked long enough I could find it. Googling "rubber playground ground cover" brings up 1.5 million hits.

EPA ~ what to do with old tires

I'm thinking about life cycles now -- eventually all things need replacement. Rubber itself is a natural material and is either biodegradable or recyclable, but materials made from recycled tires would have little bits of other elements in them which may not be so environmentally friendly.

commercial flooring

a little high fashion

pavers, etc. Interesting, but my own aesthetic sensibilities are offended by a material trying to masquerade as something else.

Me too.

And I was just thinking ~ boy! do I know how to live it up on a Friday night -- researching recycled rubber products. Sheesh.

That's what I like about a2k, it doesn't matter...


Recycled Rubber Researchers 'R Us

Wouldnt the rubber help with noise as well?

That sounds right..

Nike has pioneered some of this stuff. You find a lot of playgrounds here that are covered with recycled sneaker soles. I imagine that this sidewalk stuff is very similar.

I think it's great. I've never noticed a stink.

http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=27&cat=reuseashoe&subcat=grind

There was a running track made of similar stuff, I think, in Ft Leonard Wood, MO. It was really comfortable to run on, and seemed to net much less impact to the joints.

But what will happen in sweltering heat when one wears high heels?

That (and some other reasons which I can't remember exactly) was why such was stopped here some years (ten, fifteen?) ago.

All what is left are some "rubber pavements" around children play toys in our mall (and that's meanwhile required by law).

Just checked some German websites: the reason why they aren't used so much anymore is indeed the risk of stumbling and .... environmental danger to trees and plants.

Now, they are very often used between the rails at level crossing (noice reduction).