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IRVINE, CALIF. — The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recently completed a project that repaved 12 miles of State Route 73 in Orange County. The $7.2 million project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Caltrans used 80,000 tons of rubberized asphalt concrete (recycled tires) to pave both sides of SR-73 from Interstate 5 to the Ford Road undercrossing. An estimated 300,000 recycled tires were utilized, keeping them out of California landfills. The new roadway surface is expected to last a decade, even though up to 70,000 vehicles travel daily on SR-73 in the cities of Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach, and Irvine.

The work also included applying new paint and installing pavement markers to help motorists easily identify lane boundaries, replacing the striping at pedestrian crosswalks near freeway ramps, and installing new electronic sensors under the freeway that are used to alert drivers when traffic is flowing smoothly or is congested. Caltrans collects data from the sensors and posts estimated travel times to various locations on electronic highway message signs.

California has obligated nearly $2.6 billion in Recovery Act funding to nearly 1,000 highway, local street, and job training transportation projects statewide.