It has been 11 years since GTA V was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 and since then the community has not stopped finding new secrets in the open world of Rockstar Games. The developer is famous for including all kinds of references, Easter eggs and winks in the map of its video games, with Los Santos being one of its greatest exponents.
We can encounter ghosts on Mount Chilliad, a sect full of very aggressive naked people and even details as well worked as a dog frequently visiting its master’s grave. All of them can be taken as inventions of the developer itself or light inspirations to give shape to really strange situations, but one of them seems so completely absurd that it is difficult to believe that it could be real.
If we go through the carretera Great Ocean Highway on the left side of the map and we reach the Chumash area, we will find a good area to spend the day on the beach. However, if we decide to jump into the water at a nearby point in the ocean, and start diving with the character, we will end up finding ourselves in a graveyard of tires. In the video below you can see its location and how it looks in GTA V
You can’t do anything with the enormous amount of wheels, beyond observing what anyone would classify as an aquatic landfill. A joke that doesn’t seem to be related to anything at all, if it weren’t for the idea that the Florida government gave the green light to back in the 1970s, known as Arrecife Osborne.
Broward Artificial Reef Inc., an area nonprofit, proposed dumping millions of tires on the state’s shores to create an artificial coral. Although it may seem far-fetched, the group managed to receive approval from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, as similar projects had been created in other parts of the world. The objective was none other than to achieve attract marine fauna and consolidate the point as a fishing place.
In 1974, work began to get everything ready for Broward County and many people became involved in the task. A United States Army minesweeper boat collaborated with more than 100 private boats that volunteered, while the Goodyear tire brand provided constant support during its construction. Such was its prominence that they even launched a tire with a gold rim from a Goodyear Blimp airship to baptize that space that had more than two million wheels tied along 15 hectares of surface, 2.1 kilometers away from the coast and 20 meters deep.
The problem arose little by little, as all the tires were held together thanks to nylon ropes and steel clips, which began to come loose. This was caused because The corrosion of the materials when in contact with water was not taken into account. for a long time, so aquatic life did not see fit to adhere to the artificial reef. As each element could move freely as it was not tied, the species fled the place and the settlement of organisms was prevented.
As if that were not enough, the tires began to collide with natural corals, making the side effects of the disaster even worse. All of this was aggravated by the numerous storms that have occurred over the decades, which moved the wheels to different areas. To no one’s surprise, Malaysia and France are countries where attempts to generate corals have failed miserably, so now it is companies like 4ocean that are trying to repair the damage caused.
“This operation is an uphill battle,” the institution recently expressed, which seeks funding for cleanup tasks by creating jewelry made from the extracted tires. There are many attempts to remove tires from the seabed, but the latest estimate from the state of Florida is that in 2016 there were still 650,000 under water. According to 4ocean, the figure remained above 500,000 in 2022.
In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved an assessment from the Department of Environmental Protection that established a schedule to complete extraction in July 2024. However, many cannot be recycled due to their condition, but are still transported to the Florida Solid Waste Authority where the remains are taken care of.
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