A state grant of about $697,000 was awarded to the Penn State University Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies to pave unfinished roads with compressed scrap tires to eliminate environmental hazards.

State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, announced last week that the Penn State University Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies in Centre County received a $696,685 grant to process up to 747,000 scrap tires for road construction projects.

The grant money, awarded by the Pennsylvania Waste Tire Reuse Grant Program, will be used to compress the tires into engineered tire bales for use in several dirt and gravel road construction demonstration projects located in Madison and Greenwood townships in Columbia County.

"We're going to use tires to fix a couple of pollution sites adjacent to the Starr tire pile in northern Columbia County to demonstrate that we can make good use of these tires," said Kevin Abbey, Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies director.

The Max and Martha Starr tire pile in Columbia County is one of the largest scrap tire piles in the state, with an estimated 6 million to 10 million waste tires, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The tire baling will begin next week, Abbey said. "The timeframe for construction is May and June of this year," he said. "Our intent is to have it finished by June 30."

Waste tires are an environmental, health and safety hazard, Benninghoff said in a press release.

"Rainwater accumulates in tire piles, creating an ideal environment for mosquitoes, which are known to transmit the West Nile virus," he said in a press release.

Sediment and other contaminants from unpaved roads can run into nearby water sources. Tire piles also pose a fire risk, Abbey said.

Tire piles can burn for weeks, causing the rubber to decompose into oil and pollute ground and surface water, according to the DEP.

The process can be used in other regions to reduce waste and improve conditions, Abbey said.

"This can be duplicated across the commonwealth," Abbey said. "There are hundreds of other roads around the commonwealth that could benefit from the same treatment."

The project is important because it reduces a hazardous waste material and improves the environment at the same time, Abbey said.

"Protecting our environment and improving our economy are not mutually exclusive goals," Benninghoff said. "Reusing waste tires for roads is another example of how environment and economic needs can both be met at the same time."