Rising Oil Prices Affect Roadways

Rubberized Asphalt Concrete is an alternative. It still uses petroleum, but it is recycled petroleum from used tires.
From Energy Justice:
Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) is a "downcycling" use of scrap tires that could drastically reduce this waste stream. RAC is created by a process in which tires are shredded and ground into dust, then mixed with traditional asphalt. The result is a high quality concrete that can be used to pave roads. RAC is already in use in California, Arizona, Florida, and around the world. According to Joyce Eden of West Valley Citizens Air Watch, "Most if not all of the used tires could be used in RAC. RAC is better, longer lasting, uses only 2" versus 4" of material to make the road cover, is quieter and...the tires on the cars and trucks last longer because the surface is more giving." 5 The California Integrated Waste Management Board noted in 1992 that "Rubberized asphalt has the potential to use all the scrap tires in the State in the future."

Thanks for the information. This is a great technology.

I think what we need is a substitute rather than a new way to make it. Concrete works great, except in the frigid cold, like you have in upstate NY and other godforsaken places. In cold climates of course you get more breakage and these holes are very costly to mend. In warm climates this isn't nearly as much of a problem.

I am sure Nabisco could help design a new paving material made of the same thing they use for their Oreo cookies. I am pretty sure they are made from a combination of tar and elephant dung - densely packed and ready to be drvien on.

Seriously, using asphalt is relatively easy and used to be cheap, but it has its problems. Another issue with it, beyond cost, is the run-off water, which carries carcinogens from something in the asphalt (I can't remember if it's tar or oil) and that stuff gets into our groundwater. I wrote a paper about this a number of years ago, but I can't put my hands on it right now to get the references.

-Boon