Investigating Tools for Sustainability Assessment of Road Pavements in Europe

Abstract

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a method to support decision making processes through the evaluation of system effectiveness, environmental integrity, economic valuation, and social implications [1]. SA can be carried out through the application of life-cycle-based techniques for quantitative assessment, or by performing a mainly qualitative approach via sustainability rating systems (SRS). In the field of civil engineering, many SRS have been proposed, all based on assigning point values to actions that are determined to contribute to the overall sustainability of the project. However, only few of these systems can be applied specifically to compare road pavement technologies and/or maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. This study focuses on adapting two of these tools: GreenPave [2], developed in the US, and BE2ST (Building Environmentally and Economically Sustainable Transportation–Infrastructure–Highways) [3], developed in Canada. The investigation consisted of evaluating the feasibility of increasing the amount of reclaimed asphalt (RA) in European wearing courses by carrying out a comparative analysis of eight different mixtures, containing up to 90% of RA.