Concrete and asphalt are the main materials that are used to pave the roads that paint our landscapes throughout the globe and connect us to one another. Every driver, bus dweller, and sidewalk trekker knows that where there are paved pathways, there are potholes.
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What Are Potholes?
Technically speaking, potholes are structural failures in a road surface caused primarily by the presence of water in the underlying soil as well as the wear from passing traffic. These defects can damage a tire or a wheel and lead to very serious accidents.
In Ottawa, Ontario alone, hundreds of pothole claims are made each year. With each claim comes the demand for repair, and with repair demands comes the need for adequate resources.
Dr. Bonaso of Mechanical Concrete has recently come out with a new method for tackling the neverending pothole problem. He came up with his innovative idea after spending his entire life enveloped in civil engineering, construction, and business development as well as serving as a State Secretary of Transportation. After receiving a bunch of scrap tires from the Legislature, he looked at them as an opportunity.
Why couldn’t you just bury the tires in the road?
Engineers were quick to reply that you cannot bury them because they will inevitably retain water. And so his four years of trying to figure out how to rid of both problems began.
Bonaso developed the idea and received a patent for it in 2008, after following through with the traditional technology development stages. These stages are that of first modeling, followed by field testing, lab testing and then implementing three full-scale demonstration projects.
Solution: The Pothole Terminator
Dubbed the “Pothole Terminator”, the method involves taking crushed stone and putting it within a thin-walled cylinder (in this case, an old tire with its sidewalls removed and then covered up). Once the aggregates are confined within the tire, it’s solid–moisture will not be able to enter. You can then pour concrete or asphalt over the tired once installed.
Once installation is complete, the area acts as a structural drain, allowing water to run through it without causing damage. This, in turn, prevents ground and surface water from penetrating or damaging a roadway base. No more potholes!
Not only is the Pothole Terminator a cost-efficient solution to the pothole dilemma, state its inventors, but it’s also friendly to the environment. Scrap tires will no longer pile up in landfills as useless wastes of space. Now we can re-use them while simultaneously improving the durability of our roads.
