Alternative and “Friendly to Environment” Materials for Highway Applications

Nowadays cost of highway materials increase every year. In addition, use of marginal materials results in early development of pavement distress, requiring more frequent repairs also rehabilitation, associated lane closures, traffic congestion in high volume traffic areas which increases the potential for construction zone accidents and increased levels of environmental pollution related to automobile emissions. Therefore, there is a strong desire in our country to optimize the use of materials currently used for highway pavement construction and to seek advanced materials that are cheaper and environmentally friendly. It has now been recognized that the age of limitless construction materials and the use of conventional materials in their present form is fast coming to an end, and new technologies need to be developed to continue to support the rehabilitation and reconstruction of pavements. Today, concerns about limited availability and sustainability are driving the search for new and advanced materials for highway construction. In this paper we describe the potential for considering the use of alternative materials, also encourage the industry to accelerate the development and implementation of products still under development. The materials range from materials under development to recently commercialized materials.