More resistant structure than traditional asphalt and low maintenance. Still in a conceptual phase, it has already received the support of the City of Rotterdam.
More environmentally friendly, faster to put on and lighter and more durable. These are the characteristics that led the Rotterdam council, in the Netherlands, to be available to test the use of recycled plastic to create road pavements, replacing asphalt and, in some cases, including pipes and cables inside.
The images that the Dutch construction company VolkerWessels recently revealed in their website show structures made of recycled plastic, which are used both to build roads and to create cycle paths. Underneath the first layer there is a box that connects to the other end of plastic with the support of small tubes. Inside the box, VolkerWessels placed pipes and cables to show that it is possible to give the flooring alternative functions to asphalt, such as including electricity cables, for example.
The idea is to create roads using several prefabricated parts that, after being assembled, become a single road, building a PlasticRoad(plastic road). “Roads can be built in weeks instead of months. It is also much easier to control the quality of the road”, writes the company in the presentation of its project, stressing that the ease of construction and transport to the place where a road will be built reduces the logistics and space required for this type of work.
A PlasticRoad it is not damaged by corrosion caused by water or chemical reactions and it resists temperatures below minus 40 degrees Celsius and above 80 degrees, which reduces the need for floor maintenance. According to VolkerWessels, its surface lasts three times longer than traditional roads.
Ao The Guardian, the director of VolkerWessels' road construction subdivision explained that “plastic offers all sorts of advantages when compared to current road construction, both in creation and maintenance”.
Rolf Mars stresses that the PlasticRoad it is still at a conceptual stage, but the company hopes that within three years the project will come to fruition. “We are looking for partners who want to collaborate in a pilot project, as well as manufacturers in the plastics industry, in the recycling sector, universities and other institutions”, said Mars.
For now, VolkerWessels has received the support of the City Council of Rotterdam, a city known as an enthusiast of sustainable technologies. The chamber's engineering office made it known, through spokesman Japp Peters, that Rotterdam considers the PlasticRoad a “very positive” project and that the city is “open to innovative experiences and adaptations”. "We have a street laboratory available where innovations like this can be tested," added the official, quoted by the Guardian.
By: Claudia Bancaleiro
Source: Publico.pt
