This is a great idea (Plastic Roads)

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(02-08-2017, 03:21 AM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: https://thinkprogress.org/netherlands-company-introduces-plastic-roads-that-are-more-durable-climate-friendly-than-asphalt-ecb7c2a11a50?gi=f63a584843df

This could solve a lot of problems with the amount of plastic that's dumped in the oceans of the world. Hell, maybe some guy out there could start with that Texas sized floating plastic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and pave Americas highways and streets with it.

This needs to get out there for everyone to see. Put pressure on the US Government to get this ball rolling or just some person with a lot of ambition and wants to get rich. 

EDIT: This would be perfect for those self driving cars too. Sensors could be laid in every piece of roadway and cars...think iRobot with Will Smith.

EDIT 2: A barge could be made with the equipment to make the road pieces on it. It would sail out to that garbage patch in the Pacific, start gathering the plastic, shred it, compress it into the pieces then put it on another barge to be shipped back to the US.

"...are predicted to last longer than traditional roads..."

"The concept is still in the idea phase — there aren’t any plastic roads being tested in the Netherlands yet, and the company says it still needs to test the idea in a lab to see how it performs under different conditions; whether it’s safe to drive on when wet, for instance."

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They haven't even tested to see if it's safe to drive on wet. Let alone how it handles rain, semis with full loads, or earthquakes. Heck, even handling an incline or curve on a mountain road at 70mph. Will the road hold up to the salt we throw down on it every winter? For that matter, won't ice make it crazy brittle? How much distance will you need to brake on a wet or icy road? How will you replace pieces of it that get worn out or broken from a car crash? Even their durability is only a prediction (and probably based off of Netherlands traffic models, not US).

Not to mention there's not enough plastic in all the oceans combined to pave all the US roads. (~3.9m miles of roads) So do they then just make new plastic to make more roads? (Kind of defeats the purpose, no?) Or do they just piecemeal it together with plastic and asphalt?

You're jumping the gun by quite a bit on wanting this instituted throughout the country.