Every Tire Counts — Reimagining Waste Tires As Bicycle Lane Delineators
THE PROBLEM:
In the United States every year around, 280 million tires are discarded. To put this number in perspective — If we lay these tires next to each other, mathematically, we can go around the earth 6 times or build a seven meter high wall on the US-Mexico border!
States collect on an average USD 1 as per tire as disposal fees (that is USD 280 million expenditure annually). Adding to this expenditure, there are special grants for tire cleanup, for example Puget Sound from Washington State that received a $36 million grant for tire clean up.
While tire disposal is a big problem for cities and states, yet another problem is assigning adequate funding for protected bicycle lanes. On an average a mile of protected bike lane costs a million dollars. (In special cases like Seventh Ave and Second Ave in downtown Seattle the actual cost of constructing a protected bicycle lane came to $12 million a mile from an estimated $800,000!! Revenue loss because of delays due to traffic congestion from everlasting constructions is not accounted for).
The summary of tire waste and scenario of bicycle lanes in the US and in Washington State looks like this:
THE POSSIBILITY
If we use waste tires as delineators for protected lanes or even as wheel stops at parking lots would serve three purposes — 1. Diverting waste tires away from landfills and oceans 2. Better infrastructure at cheaper costs 3. Economic development of local small business and untrained workforce.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Different forms of delineators made from waste tires using simple manufacturing process — called Tividers.
Tividers are coated with a reflective paint for improved visibility.The TiViders are directly bolted to the asphalt thus giving immense flexibility in design without worrying about underground or on-surface infrastructure.
OPPORTUNITY
Apart from the economic and design advantages of TiVider, thanks to its easy installation, it has enormous potential to generate employment for an untrained workforce. We believe that communities can participate in building their own bike lanes by painting the tires with reflective coats and thus bringing art to our city streets.
CALL FOR ACTION — Let’s run a pilot project
Cities, civil engineering firms, community development corporations, educational institutions, investors, and individuals- If you are interested in trying something new that reduces waste and creates safe bicycle lanes, we are looking forward to hearing from you.
