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How good are American roads?

(www.construction-physics.com)
252 points chmaynard | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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digitalsushi ◴[] No.42194555[source]
I heard a civil engineer make a claim once that the dust on the side of the road is about 300% more laden with precious metals like platinum, than random mining. I suppose this is all roads and not just American roads, though.
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mikepurvis ◴[] No.42194600[source]
Isn’t it supposed to be mostly brake pads, rotors, and tire rubber?

Would be fascinating to imagine it being economically viable to vacuum up and reprocess it, but based on the above I’ve assumed it was worthless.

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1. olyjohn ◴[] No.42197209[source]
Yes, it's copper and other metals used in the brake pads, as well as tire dust. Rotors are mostly just cast iron, so I'm not sure how bad that is.