State awards $2M grant for scrap tire use, $37K for Ingham County

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced the funding of more than $2 million in grants to develop new markets for used vehicle tires.

Scrap tires pose both a fire hazard and a human health risk as a mosquito breeding ground, according to EGLE.

Ingham County Road Department (ICRD) is allotted $37,931 with this grant. ICRD plans to use the grant for a road rehabilitation project on Fitchburg Road (form Parman Road to 4,000 feet west), including installation of approximately 5,510 cubic yards of tire derived aggregate (TDA) in a 750-foot span of the project.

Use of the tires as lightweight fill over soil will use approximately 250,000 passenger tire equivalents.

An ICRD Market Development Grant project of $450,000 funded in 2021 could not be completed due to supply chain issues. Total amount granted for completion of the project is $487,931.

Other projects include $573,530 to Cobalt Holdings to process oversized tires. Porous Pave will receive $60,000 to address drainage issues across the state.

Michigan Technological University (MTU)-Dixie Highway will receive $418,814 to rehabilitate 2.3 miles of Dixie Highway with a dry process rubber modified asphalt overlay. Michigan Technological University-Midland Road will receive $482,549 to pave a one-mile section of Midland Road in Bay County utilizing dry process rubber technology.

Rubber modified chip seal will use $464,947 for two projects for a total of 32 lane miles using rubber modified chip seal throughout Michigan.

For more information, call the EGLE’s Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278, or visit Michigan’s Scrap Tire Program: Mi.gov/ScrapTires.

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