12-06-2025
Road near Freedom Park being paved with unique material
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (KCAU) — A road in South Sioux City is being paved using plastic asphalt surface. This is the first road of its kind in the city and the State of Nebraska.
A ceremony was held near Siouxland Freedom Park on Wednesday, adjacent to Foundry Road receiving the new asphalt.
City officials said the road will use asphalt made from recycled plastic materials, such as plastic bags. This kind of asphalt is helping to lower the environmental impact of plastic while moving forward on infrastructure practices that are sustainable.
Officials said about 2 million plastic bags were used to make the asphalt to pave Foundry Road.
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Nebraska State Senator Glen Meyer attended the ceremony and spoke about the forward-thinking project.
'I want to commend South Sioux City and Lance (Hedquist) and the people involved who put this together. That's very innovative, you guys are forward-looking, you guys are trying to improve life and improve the situation in your community, and that's to be commended,' said State Sen. Glen Meyer (R,) District 17.
Multiple countries such as Australia, India, and Swede,n have started to use the plastic asphalt method.
South Sioux City Mayor Rod Koch said he hopes that this project could become a new trend for road paving.
'It's a good start, you've got to start somewhere. I think in those other countries I mention that are doing it, same as the United States, I think if we can prove that these are easier to maintain and this thing could catch fire, and we can find an easy way to do it and process it, and get it laid down. This could catch on, we don't know,' said Mayor Rod Koch.
Officials said the paving project is expected to be done within the next two weeks.
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