A new era for rubber asphalt concretes for the green public procurement in road construction

Delivering a safe and sustainable infrastructure starts from the public procurement approach and from the adoption of good practices that are able to improve the environmental and structural performance as well as to extend the maintenance cycle of the infrastructure itself. Besides the traffic-related impacts, the construction phase of a road generates the largest environmental impacts within its entire life cycle. Hence, procuring road construction and maintenance with a reduced environmental impact is a complex process that should focus, above all, on durability. Since the 60’s, Rubberized Asphalt Concretes (RAC) have proven to be consistent technologies for the construction of long lasting, cost effective and quiet asphalt pavements, worldwide. Notwithstanding that, the use of RAC is still rare in Europe, mostly because of cultural limitations rather than technical restraints. In recent years, a national regulation in Spain and the growing concern for environmental noise in Italy have encouraged a regular use of RAC in both countries and new rubberized technologies have developed. An overview of new hybrid wet and dry processes is here presented, providing new synergies between PmBs and CRM that meet the sustainability requirements at the basis of the Green Public Procurement philosophy.