< Back Lake McKusik Trail City realizes significant cost savings Year Completed: 2003 The city of Stillwater wanted to build a trail that went through a marsh. Building the trail using typical aggregates would have costed a significant amount of money to build. Moisture from the subgrade won't wick through the TDA, so the freeze/thaw cycle will not impact the trail surface. By using TDA in the trail design the city saved money and built a long lasting trail. Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Previous Next < Back American Engineering Testing (St. Paul, MN) Saving limited valuable real estate space Year Completed: 2018 Civil engineers continue to find new ways to utilize tire shreds. One of the latest, rain gardens, is the storm water management system of choice next to a parking lot for a school district building in St. Louis Park, MN. Kevin Pheiffer, project designer for Anderson—Johnson Associates, Inc. in Minneapolis, says the void spaces in TDA (Tire Derived Aggregate) are ideal for providing underground holding areas for water runoff at a fraction of the cost for alternatives and, in the case of St. Louis Park, by using less space than traditional holding ponds. Rain gardens are detention and retention systems to slow down water that runs off of parking lots or other impervious areas. If water isn’t slowed down, it discharges into a storm system at high speed. When it comes out of a watershed, it can flood a river. Fast-moving water also carries a lot of sediment with it, according to Joe Otte, Wenck Associates. “Most of the contamination that gets into our bodies of water is sediment or things attached to sediment,” he said. “When you slow down water, you increase the resonance time and that allows anything suspended in the water a chance to get out.” Rain gardens can be more attractive than traditional holding ponds for a number of reasons. A rain garden: isn’t a water hazard, maintains vegetation, and can be made to work in tight quarters. For the St. Louis Park school, engineers were required to design a new storm water management plan because when they redid the parking lot and added sidewalks they increased the amount of impervious area. Nationwide, storm water management plans are often required for construction projects. “We looked at many alternatives and TDA ended up being the most cost effective one,” said Pheiffer. Ponds take more space. Plastic storm chambers may offer more storage in less area, but are much more expensive. Rocks would cost two to three times more than TDA, Pheiffer estimates. At the school, the rain garden was constructed in a previously turfed area covering about 1,300 square feet. Dirt was removed and two feet of TDA put in place. Six inches of decorative rock went on top of the tire shreds. Trees and vegetation were planted on top of that. Now, rain water runs off of the parking lot and sidewalks into the rain garden. Water moves out of the rain garden through a four-inch drain tile that leads to the city’s storm water system. “Everyone involved is happy. We fully endorse the Tire Derived Aggregate,” Pheiffer said. “We’re trying to find as many uses for it as we can right now.” Tire shreds for the project were part of a full-circle recycling program offered by First State Tire Recycling. A tire clean-up project in a nearby community provided the scrap tires. Everybody wins, says Monte Niemi, CEO, First State Tire Recycling. “People can see an immediate benefit to recycling when tires get picked up in the morning at a clean-up site, processed and then delivered to a school construction project later in the day,” Niemi said. “There’s a further benefit to supporting the use of rain gardens because they help protect our valuable water resources.”

(Back) Projects: Parking Lots Minneapolis Convention Center Reducing stress load on underground parking ramp Reducing stress load on underground parking ramp Nompeng Academy Unexpected peat deposit Unexpected peat deposit Parking Lot Retaining Wall (New Hope, MN) Reducing lateral load on lower lot retaining wall Reducing lateral load on lower lot retaining wall

VIDEO RESOURCES A Short Intro to TDA (4 minutes) Testimonials: TDA in Action More about Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) Installed Project Videos Three-Part TDA in Civil Engineering (by CalRecycle) CalRecycle Videos Play Video Play Video 14:32 Uses of Tire Derived Aggregate in Civil Engineering Applications -Pt 1 of 3 Discuss the applications and benefits of using recycled tire product in Civil Engineering projects. Play Video Play Video 13:55 Uses of Tire Derived Aggregate in Civil Engineering Applications -Pt 2 of 3 Discuss the applications and benefits of using recycled tire product in Civil Engineering projects. Part 2 of 3. Play Video Play Video 14:05 Uses of Tire Derived Aggregate in Civil Engineering Applications -Pt 3 of 3 Discuss the applications and benefits of using recycled tire product in Civil Engineering projects. Part 3 of 3.

SUSTAINABILITY Our planet is faced with incredible responsibilities to manage the waste that is produced by our population. In the tire world, the United States is responsible for managing approximately one discarded tire per person per year. TDA Manufacturing/First State Tire Recycling is very involved in the environmental aspect of recycling and finding innovative solutions. Part of our goal is to create marketplaces for waste tires - an endeavor that requires resources, research, patience and new ideas. TDA has proven to be a valuable resource in the field of civil engineering. As the use of TDA in engineering applications increase, it becomes important to identify any potential associated environmental impacts and implement design modifications to mitigate potential problems. Research conducted over the last 30 years by the Environmental Protection Agency, universities and other firms and organizations conclude that TDA has negligible effect on water quality, and leach metals fall below detection limits just a few feet from the TDA fill section. ​ In fact, TDA is so sustainable and environmentally friendly that it can be utilized in projects seeking LEED, GREEN ROADS and Green Build Certification .

TDA INSTALLATIONS: 1990-2013 BY YEAR STORMWATER PROJECTS LIGHTWEIGHT FILL LANDFILL FROST PREVENTION BASEMENTS & RETAINING WALLS DRAIN TILE

< Back HyVee Grocery Store Road surface elevation just a few feet below the building's roof elevation Year Completed: 2018 Hy-Vee grocery store managers and engineers used an innovative, sustainable engineering material when they built a store in Robbinsdale (MN) and, in the process, increased performance and saved money on a tricky part of the project. France Avenue North runs parallel to the back of the building and is only 30 feet away. That typically isn't an issue, but in this case, the road's surface elevation was just a few feet below the building's roof elevation. In order to reduce the lateral load of the 20-foot slope pushing against the building, Westwood Professional Services designed the wall to be backfilled with approximately 2,000 cubic yards of TDA (tire derived aggregate). Installing a typical granular material in this scenario would have been more expensive, and would increase the risk of wall failure. TDA provides a 50% lateral load reduction compared to soil and its high permeability will minimize hydrostatic pressure. TDA also provides a capillary break and insulation layer, preventing damage from freeze-thaw cycles. Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Highway 61 Bridge Approach (revisited!) Bridge Approach Stabilized with Recycled-Tire Engineered Aggregate Year Completed: 2015 What do a bridge in Scanlon, MN and Bob Dylan have in common? Dylan’s sixth studio album is called “Highway 61 Revisited” and the bridge is on Highway 61 in Carlton County. A songwriter and an engineer each make plans and assemble resources, in just the right amounts, to support the performance. Both a bridge and a song have the ability to transport you. Carlton County engineers were singing the blues about the bridge, which was built in 1987. It’s a prestressed concrete girder bridge. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, 5,000 vehicles per day drive on it. Over time, the approach to the bridge coming from the west deteriorated, which required considerable maintenance. The surrounding soils are peat and red clay, a challenge to build on. In 2015, a long-term remedy to the problem was implemented. Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) was installed as lightweight fill. TDA stabilized the approach by creating a permeable, stable subgrade to float the road over the poor soils. The shreded tires interlocked and created a snowshoe effect to support the structure. According to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, red clay can weigh up to 3,000 pounds per cubic yard when wet. By comparison, TDA has a nominal weight of approximately 600 pounds per cubic yard. For the bridge project, 3,120 cubic yards of TDA was installed underneath the bridge approach. This lightened the load by 7,488,000 pounds (3,744 tons) across the 400 foot bridge approach. Carlton County engineers designed the bridge project, and Ulland Brothers, Inc. did the contract work. Carlton County has a successful history of combating red clay with the innovative use of TDA. Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Previous Next < Back American Engineering Testing (St. Paul, MN) Saving limited valuable real estate space Year Completed: 2018 The site of the old Midway Stadium, 1771 Energy Park Dr., St. Paul, is home to one of the largest civil engineering applications of Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) in Minnesota. Over one million tires, or approximately 20 percent of a year’s worth of discarded tires in Minnesota, are finding new life protecting the Mississippi River from stormwater runoff. Where people once tailgated before the baseball game, business have now set up shop in a 190,000-square-foot commercial and light industrial office warehouse project. Unbeknownst to perhaps all of the tenants and customers, their parking lot is resting on an underground stormwater filtration and storage system made from TDA. The tire shreds’ job is to capture the sediment and store the water for slow absorption back into the area. Developer Asked to Step Up to the Plate with Response Action Plan The Saints baseball team had played here for 22 years. In those days, water ran over the surface to a seven-foot-diameter pipe that dumped water and sediment directly into the Mississippi River. Because the land was once a landfill for the State Fairgrounds, the St. Paul Port Authority required a Response Action Plan to remediate a site that is a potential source of pollution for ground and surface waters. We’re not talking about a small landfill. Today, the 12-day-long Minnesota State Fair is one of the region’s most widely attended tourist activities, drawing about 1.8 million visitors a year. It’s one of the nation’s biggest fairs. The fair is located next to the Midway Stadium site on 320 acres. Extensive cleanup of the site occurred in 2015. At the beginning of 2016, the stormwater management system was installed. LHB Corporation designed the stormwater management system using TDA supplied by First State Tire Recycling, Isanti, MN. A SAFL Baffle, pervious pavers, and approximately 30,000 cubic yards of TDA work together to pre-treat water by removing sediment. The system is designed to infiltrate the runoff volume from a 100-year storm event. LHB Corporation project documents describe the advantages of using TDA as fill for stormwater systems: “The use of TDA as a storage facility for stormwater treatment provides an environmentally safe reuse of tires that would otherwise be discarded as waste.” The project documents explain, “Tire derived aggregate offers a reduced cost alternative to the typical stone aggregate and chamber systems that are commonly used for below grade stormwater storage. In addition to conserving natural resources, TDA can greatly reduce the cost of construction for underground systems.” Monte Niemi, CEO of First State Tire Recycling, says many developers prefer to have their stormwater systems be underground, as it saves valuable real estate space. “The use of tire derived aggregate in civil engineering has its roots in road construction and site foundation stabilization,” Niemi said. “Heavy developments on top of TDA have proven successful due to its unique engineering properties.” Niemi describes the unique properties as lightweight with high shear strength, large void space and good thermal insulation. Tires Aid in Proven Design With the assistance of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and others, the St. Paul Port Authority has turned 21 polluted and often abandoned inner-city sites into environmentally friendly business centers. In 2010, the St. Paul Port Authority installed an innovative, state-of-the-art stormwater system that set a precedent in sustainable, or “green,” engineering. Formerly the home of 3M Co. factories, the land now hosts 650,000-700,000 square feet of new buildings. Within the land, engineers connected new, 10-foot diameter metal culverts to the Phalen Storm Water tunnel which was already present. As backfill to surround the metal culverts, 7,725 cubic yards of TDA was installed. The system now eliminates more than 90 percent of the runoff sediment from 163 acres of St. Paul East Side that previously flowed untreated into the Mississippi River. The project won numerous awards, including the ACEC Grand Award and the 2012’s People’s Choice Award in ACEC’s Engineering Excellence Award Competition. About the Contractors The Midway Stadium site involves United Properties, LHB Corporation, R.J. Ryan Construction, and Carl Bolander & Sons Corporation.

< Back Minneapolis Convention Center Reducing stress load on underground parking ramp Year Completed: 1990 Engineers needed to reduce the stress load on Minneapolis Convention Center’s parking ramp. About 2,500 cubic yards of TDA (tire-derived aggregate) was placed on top of the Center’s below-ground ramp as a substitute for heavier fill material. The use of TDA reduced the weight on top of the underground structure by about 70%. The weight reduction not only relieved the stress on the parking ramp, but it also allowed developers to build a green space on top of the ramp for visitors to enjoy. "The use of shredded tires saved the developers and taxpayers money, reduced the stress load on the parking ramp, made it possible to to develop a park above the ramp, and helped recycle a part of our waste that has been a problem for years. We hope that more individuals and companies will develop innovative uses for recycled tires, and help our state better manage its solid waste." - Gerald Willet (MPCA Commissioner) Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Central Community Rain Garden School districts choses TDA for storm water management system next to parking lot Year Completed: 2005 Previous Next