Road construction companies are aware of the strategic and universal issues associated with sustainable development and wish to make their own contribution to this collective effort, although the last decade has already seen a considerable number of environmental protection measures. This paper describes the contribution made by road construction regarding energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The latter is the main issue for sustainable development. The principal road construction techniques are analyzed (hot asphalt mixes, bitumen emulsion technologies, concrete cement, in place or plant recycling, etc.). The different types of road pavement structure are examined and compared over a thirty year service life. The output of this study has driven us to develop an efficient tool to assist in quantifying sustainability in pavement projects. It can be used for research and development of tomorrow's structures. Among the techniques, cold mix technologies and in place pavement recycling are promising. As a last update, in a specific project analysis, the concept of an 'ecologiciel' or software to evaluate various alternative solutions in respect of sustainability will be presented. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E216597.
Samenvatting