« Go back In Italy the first sustainable highway in Europe
Italy is planning Europe's first sustainable highway: 250 km of the A4 Turin-Milan freeway will be repaved with graphene, recycled hard plastics-sourced from objects such as toys, fruit boxes, and trash cans-and 70% recycled asphalt. The repaving will cover the slow lane for 125 km in both directions.According to Astm, operator of the A4 and the world's second-largest operator in highway concession networks, the project (part of the Smart Roads plan) is expected to reduce energy consumption by about 90 million kWh and CO2 equivalent emissions are expected to decrease by 18,350 tons, about the amount absorbed by 115,000 trees.
To become the most modern, most technological and greenest highway in Europe, the company will install a production plant in the middle of the highway section to manage the process. The technology used is called Gipave and is Italian. Iterchimica, a Bergamo-based company present in 90 countries, developed it together with G. Eco (an A2a Group company), the University of Milan-Bicocca and Directa Plus, a British supplier of graphene-based products. In addition to being sustainable, Gipave is expected to provide greater strength and increase the durability of the flooring by up to 75%.
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