Bulloch County Tests Recycled Tire Road Foundation

State-funded pilot explores durable, low-maintenance solutions for rural roadways

Bulloch County, Georgia, is piloting an innovative road foundation technology designed to extend road life, lower maintenance costs, and reuse large volumes of scrap tires, all while upgrading one of the county’s busiest dirt roads.

With support from a state environmental grant, county crews are installing mechanical concrete on a segment of Five Chop Road outside Statesboro, offering a potential model for maintaining rural roadways more efficiently and sustainably.

Five Chop Road is one of Bulloch County’s most heavily traveled unpaved roads, making it an ideal candidate for testing new infrastructure solutions.

The county partnered with Liberty Tire Recycling and Century Road Solutions to install mechanical concrete on a 0.58-mile stretch. The project is funded by a $250,000 Tire Products Grant from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).

Mechanical concrete is a foundation system that stabilizes roads by locking aggregate into place using recycled tire-based cylinders formed by removing the tire sidewalls structures filled with aggregate to create a stable, erosion-resistant base.

Aggregate (stone gravel) is layered into and over the structure. The confined aggregate cannot shift, erode, or form potholes. The surface remains flat and drivable with minimal upkeep.

Century Road Solutions CEO Mike Getz says the design eliminates common dirt-road problems such as potholes and washboarding, reducing the need for grading, resurfacing, and repairs, lowering long-term maintenance costs.

The technology has more than 15 years of field use, including industrial and mining roads subjected to extreme weight and traffic, without requiring follow-up repairs.

An estimated 200,000 recycled tires have already been reused in Georgia through this process.

Liberty Tire Recycling manages approximately 10 million scrap tires annually across the Southeast. The mechanical concrete system offers a high-volume reuse solution for end-of-life tires, keeping them out of landfills.

Bulloch County estimates paving one mile of asphalt road costs around $1 million. With mechanical concrete, nearly two miles of road foundation can be improved for the same cost as paving one mile. County leadership plans to closely monitor the road’s durability before expanding use of mechanical concrete elsewhere.

Bulloch County is also exploring a partnership with Georgia Southern University’s asphalt and road maintenance program to independently study the road’s long-term performance.

© Scrap Tire News, May 2026