Final conference presents the DURABROADS teaming-up with other EU research projects

20170912 140059DURABROADS final results were presented on 12 September in Madrid during the Conference "Enhancing Research and Innovation in Europe: the road sector experience" which was organised in cooperation with the European Commission Representation in Spain.

The conference presented the European Research Strategy from its development by the Commission to implementation in real projects as well the role of Public Authorities in the Public Procurement Processes.  

The first panel offered an overview of various techniques and alternative materials which aim to reduce the consumption of natural resources, energy and CO2 emissions, through the development of use of end-of-life and self-healing materials, biomass, and software to assess environmental performance.

Subsequently, the DURABROADS panel focused on the development of more durable and resilient asphalt pavements to better deal with the impact of climate change and freight transport. Concretely, the European consortium has researched into the combination of Warm Mix Asphalt with nanotechnology on the binder side, while using Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and slags on the aggregate side. This resulted in the opening of a road section in Toledo (Spain) whose performance will be monitored during the coming years.

The third panel showed how public authorities will play a key role in a successful market implementation of these innovations and therefore the transformation of the road sector to the socio-economic and environmental trends which will dominate our society in the coming years.

During the fourth and final panel, discussions focused on the need for exchange of knowledge at global level. A representative from the US Federal Highways Administration described its collaboration with two research EU Projects (i.e. LCE4ROADS and DURABROADS) encouraging future partnerships.

All the presentations as well as pictures of the event can be found in the links below.

- Presentations
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Photos DURABROADS
- Agenda

For further information, please contact José Díez: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.