Transportes licita for 32.8 million euros a program to reuse and manufacture sustainable roads

• In La Rioja, 2.41 million euros will be invested to renew a 5.2 km stretch of the A-13 (known as Logroño’s eastern ring road; which goes from the La Estrella junction to the Viana road). • The Efficient Asphalt Pavements (EFAPAVES) programme aims to reduce the environmental footprint of the transport sector, improve road safety and ensure the durability of infrastructures. • This is a new initiative to renew, in this first phase, the 114 km firm of roads in Castilla y León, Murcia, Galicia, Asturias, La Rioja, Cantabria and Aragón with reused and sustainable materials. • The program is funded by the European NextGenerationEU funds of the Recovery Plan and is part of the commitment of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to decarbonize and promote the sustainability of the State Road Network.

Sustainability and energy efficiency on roads

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has litigated three contracts for 32.8 million euros (VAT included) to reuse and manufacture sustainable roads with which to renew the State Road Network 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 sustainable development of the road network.

This is a new initiative to renew, in this first phase, the firm of 114 km of the road network in Castilla y León, Murcia, Galicia, Asturias, La Rioja, Aragón and Cantabria with reused and sustainable materials.

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, so they include the drafting of the construction project and the execution of the work itself, and have been litigated 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 which correspond to conventional road while 21 kilometers are sections of motorway:

Contract 1: €11.35 million:

• Asturias: 4.32 million euros for 16.3 km of the N-625 and N-634
• Cantabria: €1.62 million for a 6 km stretch of the N-634.
• La Rioja: €2.41 million for a 5.2 km stretch of the A-13.
• Pontevedra: 3 million euros for a 8.6 km stretch of the N-640.

Contract 2: 10.4 million euros:

• Burgos: 3.07 million euros for a 6.5 km stretch of the BU-30.
• Ourense: 2.24 million euros for a 11.1 km stretch of the N-525.
• Murcia: 2.18 million euros for a 7.12 km stretch of the N-345.
• Ávila: 2.9 million euros for a 13 km stretch of the N-502.

Contract 3: €11.05 million:

• Zaragoza: 2.59 million euros for a 7 km stretch of the A-23.
• Zamora: 2.75 million euros for a 8.5 km stretch of the N-122.
• Valladolid: 2.99 million euros for a 8.65 km stretch of the N-620.
• Murcia: 2.72 million euros for a 15.7 km stretch of the N-342.

Thus, 11.71 million euros are allocated to the sustainable renovation of 36.6 km of firmes in Castilla y León; 4.9 million euros for the sustainable renovation of 22.8 km of firmes in Murcia, 5.24 million euros for 19.7 km of firmes in Galicia, 4.32 million euros in Asturias, 1.62 million euros in Cantabria, 2.41 million euros in La Rioja and 2.59 million euros in Aragon.

The actions are financed through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, within the section of “Sustainability, energy efficiency and action against noise”, and 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.

Program Features

The program contemplates the reuse of firmes using three different techniques:

• Reuse of bituminous mixtures 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.
• 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.
• Reuse of firms 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.

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:

• Promote the circular economy by reducing the consumption of natural resources through the reuse of recovered asphalt (RA) and, presumably, by incorporating waste from other industries into the bituminous mixture.
• Improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes by reducing temperatures, thanks to semi-hot and tempered mixtures in plant, or in cold in situ.
• Reduce material hauling requirements and associated transport through on-site reuse techniques.

Hiring model

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.

A commitment to sustainable mobility

This plan is part of the Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which seeks to transform the Spanish road network into a more efficient, resilient and environmentally friendly model. With these actions, the Ministry contributes not only to improve the quality and safety of the roads, but also to meet the decarbonization and sustainability objectives agreed at national and international level.