The government delegate in Cantabria, Pedro Casares, stressed that the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility is going to allocate 1.52 million euros to improve a six-kilometer stretch of the N-634 “reusing materials”.
Casares has highlighted this “new initiative to renew with reused and sustainable materials and a further demonstration of the commitment to sustainable mobility”.
For the government delegate, “all the road investments that the Ministry of Transport is making to transform, modernize and adapt the roads of Cantabria are a further sign of that commitment and that Cantabria is part of the Government’s agenda of priorities.”
“All these actions contribute to improving the quality and safety of the roads, but also to meeting the decarbonization and sustainability objectives agreed at national and international level,” he said.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has awarded three contracts with a total value of 29.56 million euros (VAT included) to reuse and manufacture sustainable roads in the State Road Network (RCE) and thus strengthen traffic conditions and road safety, while advancing the objective of reducing the environmental footprint.
This initiative responds to the Ministry’s objective of decarbonizing and promoting the sustainability of the State Highway network.
This is the first sustainable firm program promoted by the General Directorate of Roads of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, and it pursues several objectives related to the decarbonization and sustainability of transport:
With all this, explained Casares, the circular economy is enhanced by reducing the consumption of natural resources through the reuse of recovered asphalt (RA) and, presumably, with the incorporation into the bituminous mixture of waste from other industries.
Likewise, the energy efficiency of the manufacturing processes is improved through the reduction of temperatures, thanks to semi-hot and tempered mixtures in plant, or in cold in situ; and the needs of carrying materials and the associated transport to them through in situ reuse techniques are reduced.
Techniques of reuse of materials
On the realization of the firmes of these roads there are several techniques, a first in which bituminous mixtures are reused in hot or semi-hot. It is a technique that allows to achieve the optimal combination between manufacturing temperature and amount of recovered asphalt (AR), maximizing the reduction of the carbon footprint without losing performance or compromising its technical feasibility.
On the other hand, the manufacture of tempered bituminous mixtures with emulsion or foamed bitumen. This technique facilitates a lower emission of greenhouse gases during the production of the bituminous mixtures that make up the firm.
And finally, the reuse of firm in situ with emulsion or foamed bitumen. With this technique, the need for new materials is minimized, thus reducing the carbon footprint associated with the transport and manufacture of mixtures.
Specifically, this action falls within the framework of the award by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of three contracts with a total value of 29.56 million euros (VAT included) to reuse and manufacture sustainable roads in the State Road Network (RCE) and thus strengthen traffic and road safety conditions, while advancing the objective of reducing the environmental footprint. This initiative responds to the Ministry’s objective of decarbonizing and promoting the sustainability of the State Highway network.
The contracts are part of the EFAPAVES (Efficient Asphalt Pavements) program, a comprehensive project that seeks to improve road safety, ensure the durability of infrastructures and reduce the environmental footprint of the transport sector in line with the decarbonization and sustainability objectives promoted by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
The contracts are mixed and include the drafting of the construction project and the execution of the work itself, and have been listed in batches through 3 subprograms to carry out up to 13 actions on a total of 114 kilometers of different roads of the State Road Network, 93 of 1.52 million euros in Cantabria.
An action financed through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, within the section of “Sustainability, energy efficiency and action against noise”, which contributes directly to the objectives of decarbonization and modernization of the Spanish road network, ensuring safer and more environmentally friendly mobility in the long term.
Model of contracting
This program is part of the Public Purchase Innovation Program, carried out by the General Directorate of Roads, which aims to promote research and the implementation of innovative and sustainable technologies in the field of infrastructures.
For the development of this project, a consultation was previously held for the "construction of firm under criteria of sustainability, security and energy efficiency", in which different agents and companies in the transport sector contributed their innovative proposals and solutions. The Programme thus responds both to the needs of the Directorate-General for Roads and to the innovation proposals put forward by the sector.
The option of joint project and construction contracts has been chosen as a response to the need to exploit a series of innovative techniques in the reuse of firm, where the initial definition of the solution is key to enhancing the intended effects, especially in the case of mixtures that are even outside the current regulatory framework, as is the case with temperate mixtures. Therefore, the participation of the private sector from the initial design moment is essential to achieve the established objectives while guaranteeing the viability of each solution.