The initiative incorporates materials recovered from end-of-life tyres into asphalt maintenance, supporting circular economy practices in road infrastructure.
Mexico is incorporating recycled waste tyres into maintenance work on a 6.3-kilometre section of the federal Pachuca–Querétaro highway, advancing the use of recovered materials in infrastructure development. The project is being carried out by the country’s Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) through its regional centre in Hidalgo.
The maintenance work covers the highway section between Portezuelo and the Hidalgo–Querétaro state border. The project is expected to take approximately two months to complete, depending on operational conditions. By incorporating materials recovered from used tyres into asphalt pavement maintenance, the initiative seeks to give end-of-life tyres a practical application beyond conventional disposal routes.
The use of recycled tyre materials in road construction and maintenance supports circular economy principles by returning recovered resources to productive use. End-of-life tyres can be difficult to manage when they are discarded, making their incorporation into infrastructure projects one potential way to improve material recovery and resource efficiency.
The initiative also forms part of efforts to maintain Mexico’s toll-free federal highway network. Combining road maintenance with recycled materials allows infrastructure authorities to explore applications for recovered resources while continuing essential work on the country’s transport network. SICT has highlighted responsible resource use and the productive reuse of waste tyres as key aims of the project.
Mexico has also reported other road projects involving recycled tyre rubber. In a separate highway rehabilitation project in Guanajuato announced in September 2026, authorities reported using tyre-rubber powder in modified asphalt on the Irapuato–Silao–León route. These projects illustrate growing interest in incorporating recovered tyre materials into road infrastructure across different parts of the country.
The Hidalgo project demonstrates how highway maintenance can provide an application for recycled tyre materials while supporting infrastructure upkeep. Its implementation may also offer practical experience for future projects seeking to combine road performance requirements with improved resource recovery and circular use of industrial materials.