Recycled roads.The Pan-American Highway Pan-American Highway, system of roads, c.16,000 mi (25,750 km) long, linking the nations of the Western Hemisphere. It was suggested at the Fifth International Conference of American States (1923) and supported and financed by the United States during the 1940s and , running from Alaska to Argentina, is the jugular vein jugular vein n. Any of the three jugular veins: anterior, external, and internal. of road trade and tourism in the Americas. But decades of torrential rains have degraded the Costa Rican portion the highway, leaving a 240-kilometer strip in much need of rehabilitation. Traditional repair methods, such as repaving the entire strip of road, are expensive and time consuming. Instead, Costa Rica Costa Rica (kŏs`tə rē`kə), officially Republic of Costa Rica, republic (2005 est. pop. 4,016,000), 19,575 sq mi (50,700 sq km), Central America. is recycling its old road into a new one. Like a slow-moving train, the recycler heats old asphalt, combines it with new material, and lays it back out as a higher quality road. "The recycling technique we currently use in Costa Rica saves us about 30% in costs," says Steven Lee, the principal pavement engineer for Trow trow intr.v. trowed, trow·ing, trows 1. Archaic To think. 2. Obsolete To suppose. [Middle English trowen, from Old English Engineering. According to Lee, the Costa Rican government, which is enforcing environmental consciousness to protect its tourism industry, especially liked the recycling method because it uses fewer resources than traditional repaving. |
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