Mountain Goat Trail Alliance Receives $353,232 Tire Program Grant

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) today announced a grant of $353,232 for the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance from the state's Tire Environmental Act Program.

The Mountain Goat Trail Alliance, a community outdoor recreation project, will provide matching funds of $88,308 and use the grant to construct two sections of porous pavement trail using recycled scrap tires. The project costs $441,540 and creates ADA compliant accessible pathways for guests of all abilities that will connect the trail with South Cumberland State Park Visitor Center and the Fiery Gizzard trailhead.

"The Tire Environmental Act Program provides ways to retrieve old tires and repurpose them into community assets," said TDEC Deputy Commissioner Greg Young. "These grants help make that happen, and we look forward to the results that come from this process."

The approximate combined length of the two trail sections will be 0.75 miles and will recycle approximately 8,200 scrap tires. The Mountain Goat Trail is 35-mile multiuse, multimodal walking and cycling trail that runs through seven towns within Franklin and Grundy counties.

The purpose of the Tire Environmental Act Program is to select and fund projects that best result in beneficial uses for waste tires. Projects must qualify for one of three categories: tire processing/recycling, tire-derived material use, or research and development. The program provides grant funding to eligible entities, including local governments, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and for-profit businesses.

Tennessee established the Tire Environmental Fund in 2015. Upon the first retail sale of a new motor vehicle to be titled and registered in Tennessee, a flat fee based on the number of a vehicle's wheels is assessed. The fee goes into the fund, which is used for projects creating or supporting beneficial end uses for waste tires.

Since 2015, grantees have been awarded almost $9.2 million, and approximately 7.6 million tires or nearly 82,000 tons of scrap tires have been diverted from landfills. The tires are repurposed for use in rubberized asphalt, tire-derived aggregate, tire-derived fuel, granulated rubber porous flexible pavement, and other beneficial end uses that result in tires being diverted from landfill for a higher and better use.