Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Levi Pulkkinen's July 29th, 2007 article states that folks in Medina are delighted with the new rubberized asphalt treatment on 520 that WSDOT just put down:
"Medina City Manager Mark Weinberg said the Department of Transportation came to the city with the plan for quieter pavement, which was installed during a maintenance closure of the Evergreen Point Bridge.
"The initial reaction is that people are absolutely delighted," Weinberg said.
WSDOT plans another test in Kirkland next year. However, "she (Mia Waters) said it will be at least eight years before transportation officials decide if the new pavement is wearing well."
8 years is a long time to exclude RA from roads projects where it could be reducing road noise and raising the quality of life for Washington taxpayers.
RA has been used successfully in Arizona in conditions with snow and ice for almost two decades, as well as in California, British Columbia, and in Europe.
Let's hope WSDOT's bureaucratic La Brea tar pit can be eliminated so that Washington residents that live near freeways can benefit from proven noise reduction technology that has already been used in Arizona for 16 years without failure, and which has endured the effects of snowplows and tire chains.
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