Our roads could soon be five times more
environmentally friendly, but just as strong.
Image: iStockphoto

The roads we drive on will be more environmentally friendly, thanks to research undertaken by Swinburne University’s Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure in partnership with VicRoads.

Researchers from the centre have found that it is possible to significantly increase the amount of recycled brick in road pavements, without adversely affecting road strength.

Road pavements are primarily made up of crushed concrete and rock. But in light of Swinburne’s research, VicRoads has released changes to road specifications that will allow some roads to include up to 15 per cent crushed brick.

This is a significant change, as existing specifications only allow road pavements to include up to three per cent foreign material such as brick, glass or metal.

According to Swinburne’s lead researcher Dr Arul Arulrajah, the change could go a long way to reducing the 500,000 tonnes of bricks that are left over after construction and demolition projects every year and then dumped into Victorian landfill.

“It would be great to increase our use of materials that would otherwise be dumped,” he said. “Roads that include crushed brick will leave a much smaller carbon footprint than those made up entirely of conventionally quarried materials.”

Comprehensive tests were undertaken by the Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure researchers before they recommended the changes to VicRoads.

“We introduced different percentages of crushed brick into crushed concrete and rock and then undertook a range of geotechnical and pavement tests,” Arulrajah said.

“From this we were able to determine that road pavements on low-traffic roads could consist of up to 15 per cent crushed brick, while still meeting necessary strength requirements.”

VicRoads is now set to trial the revised specifications on roads with reasonably low traffic volume, for example access roads associated with freeways, but not the freeways themselves. This will include new roads and those that are being rehabilitated.

If the new blend of crushed materials is proven to be effective, VicRoads will consider implementing it more widely. It is hoped that the revised specifications will eventually be introduced throughout Australia.

The Swinburne research project is funded by Sustainability Victoria and supported by the Victoria Construction and Demolition Recycling Industry Working Group and VicRoads.