To change the world “one road at a time” is what University of Texas at Arlington engineering professor Sahadat Hossain and his students plan to do.
Hossain and the team have been developing a plastic-infused asphalt mix for road construction he said improves roads — and recycles plastic that would have otherwise gone to waste.
“We found out if we add plastic to the asphalt road, the road becomes more durable,” Hossain said. “The rutting and cracking are less. And the performance is much better.”
This spring, the team replaced the top two inches of a section of North Goliad Street in Rockwall with a mix of asphalt and shredded plastic. It’s the first highway in Texas paved with the unique asphalt. Over the course of a single night, the team mixed the asphalt, brought it to the site and finished by 6 a.m…