Use of Shredded Tires as Lightweight Fill in Roadway Construction

Weak soils, such as peat and muck, have been a problem for engineers for as long as people have been building roads. In the past the most commonly selected alternatives when encountering weak soils was to go around the area, float an embankment over the weak soils, or remove the weak soils and replace them with a suitable material. Current economics and/or land restrictions result in highway departments too often traversing areas of weak soils without the funds to avoid or remove the weak soils. In situations where the in-place weak soils must be traversed, an available alternative may involve "floating" a road structure with a lightweight fill material for the road embankment.