You Can Eat Your Road, and Have It, Too

Gilroy’s municipal recycling efforts don’t end at the –they’re happening from the ground up.

The 50-ton “3800 CR,” which reuses and reconditions asphalt, made its county debut in Gilroy Wednesday.

But the recycling technology saves another kind of green, too.

“It’s about a third of the cost,” said Matt White, a service engineer for the machine’s manufacturer, Wirtgen America.

The city hired FMC Recycling for the first time Wednesday to resurface a section of Rossi Lane. If the versatile treatment holds up, City Operations Services Supervisor Todd Barreras said that the tank-treaded behemoth will be a more common sight in the future.

The traditional approach to resurfacing, “mill and fill,” involves removing much of the existing road surface. In a job like this one, as much as twelve tons of asphalt could end up in a landfill, said Barreras.

“It’s a material waste, and it’s not going green,” said the supervisor. 

Not having to truck in large amounts of replacement material is also a benefit–Gilroy’s closest sources for asphalt are Aromas and San Jose, leading to higher costs for the job and fuel, as well as greater emissions, said Barreras.

“With this, you’re using what’s here,” said White, the service engineer.

The “cold recycling” method has been around since the 1980s, White said. Samples from the existing road are studied, and a computer-controlled injection of “foam bitumen” helps maintain its original hardness while giving it the ability to flex around underlying cracks without breaking.

This particular machine, in its second year of service, is two lanes wide, eliminating a center seam that narrower models left in a road, said White.