AMES, Iowa -- Drivers in West Des Moines are part of Iowa Department of Transportation pavement study, likely without even knowing it.
The DOT has mixed a section of asphalt on 22nd Street with plastic beads.
"It's going to gain strength as well as durability which is going to keep our asphalt roads from rutting as bad, and help with potholes in our extreme weather," says Shane Fetters with Iowa DOT.
He says the section of the heavily-traveled street, which has been laced with plastic since 2016, is showing less wear than normally-paved sections.
"The side that we put the plastic-styrene beads looks really, really good. The side we didn't put it in is showing some cracking," Fetters says.
He says there's still more investigation to be done on just how effective the plastic-mixed asphalt really is.
"What we'd like to do is cut a couple of cores out of the project we've done on the good side and the bad side, and do some further testing on it," Fetters says.
He says if the their pavement study on 22nd Street proves successful, they'll try the plastic mix in more heavily travelled roads--like state highways.