Resources

One of the basic premises in any infrastructure project is the use of locally available materials in order to optimize resources. This criterion was adopted for the construction of the first section of RN 14 highway in Argentina. A concrete mix design was prepared in laboratory using a Siliceous River...

Photocatalytic cementitious road materials represent a new frontier in air quality improvement research, thanks to photocatalysts ability to accelerate natural reaction of oxidation, favouring the pollutants decay. This paper presents some findings that contribute to a better understanding of the effectiveness of photocatalytic road materials, evaluating the synergetic effect of...

The Ecoparc des Cettons is a sustainable business park. Designed to favour regional economic development and to boost employment in a loop of the Seine River 25 kilometres from Paris, authorities deliberately opted for an innovative approach complying with the environment including mainly: - the use of alternative techniques for...

As a general feedback of most studies and site experiments, the lower the maximum size of aggregate, the lower the rolling noise for exposed aggregate concrete roads. Yet, a small size of aggregate increases the cement demand, and by the way the unit cost of concrete. This is a supplementary...

At present the choice of materials and techniques in road construction is dictated by structural requirements and economical aspects. Ecological factors have gained in importance due to environmental considerations in politics and society. To evaluate the environmental impact of motorways, a life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14040 was...

Due to the magnitude of the project, its characteristics, and the economic and cultural development of the region where it settles, the construction of the Rosario – Cordoba Highway represents an emblematic project of the road activity in Argentina. A singularity of this motorway is that it has been built...

The noise emission performance of concrete roads has been a subject of thorough investigations in Austria in recent years. This focus is due to the predominance of concrete road surfaces in the Austrian high-level road network and to the long and successful tradition of using exposed aggregate cement concrete (EACC)...

More and more importance is attached to the quality of the road surface, especially by the road users who want to drive on safe and comfortable roads. Concrete pavements often suffer from bad image due to the fact they are very old and have been designed according to other criteria...

The global warming of our planet has a special impact on urban areas, because large cities are characteristic for the development of so-called urban heat islands. This modification of the climate of a city in comparison to the climate of their hinterland is based on a multiplicity of factors like...

The technique of double-layered concrete or two-lift paving is applied either to obtain a high-quality top layer, to use lower quality materials in the lower lift, or for both reasons at the same time. In Europe this technique is commonly applied in Austria where a typical motorway is built with...

There is great potential to use the large open space of pavement structures, equipped with an embedded pipe network, in conjunction with a heat pump, to provide heating and cooling for adjacent buildings, e.g. airport terminals, shopping centres etc, here termed a Pavement Source Heat Pump (PSHP). Due to the...

Despite the considerable progress achieved by automakers and public policy efforts to promote '"soft" and "public" travel modes, the air quality of our streets can become critical at singular periods of the year, particularly for the more fragile populations. It is possible today to reduce the most harmful nitrogen oxides,...