A clear commitment from the road sector to achieve the sustainability goals set out in the Transport White Paper is the launching of a new project to optimise sustainable road construction.
The SustainEuroRoad iniative is co-funded by the LIFE Programme which is largest scheme of EU funding allocated to improve the environment. The project held the Kick-off Meeting in Paris last 17 September bringing together partners from France (USIRF, CG33, Eurovia), Belgium (ERF), Hungary (Colas)and Spain (ASEFMA).
The European consortium will design, produce and validate an innovative software tool aiming at optimising road construction and maintenance while reducing its environmental impact (i.e. reduction of GHG emissions, limiting energy and natural resources consumption).
The software will be tested in four demonstrations sites (i.e. Spain, France, Germany and Hungary) under different technical requirements (new and renovation; motorway and one-lane roads) and different meteorological conditions (Atlantic in France, continental in Germany and Hungary, and mediterranean in Spain).
The innovative tool will represent a win-win for industry and public authorities when publishing tenders for roads. On the one hand, it will allow public authorities to move away from the ‘cheapest price’ model and select solutions that are cost-effective based not only on price but also on the tender’s environmental performance. On the other hand, this will incentivise the road infrastructure industry to roll out further innovations in the market with a view to making road infrastructure construction and maintenance greener.