Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Resources, Conservation & Recycling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Review

Life cycle assessment of road construction alternative materials: A literature T

review
⁎
Alejandra Balagueraa,b, Gloria Isabel Carvajala, , Jaume Albertíb, Pere Fullana-i-Palmerb
a
Facultad de Ingenierías. Universidad de Medellín. Carrera 87 N° 30–65 Medellín, Colombia
b
UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change (ESCI-UPF). Passeig Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Research on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was initially performed to analyze specific products; however, it
Life cycle assessment (LCA) evolved to assess environmental impacts of more complex systems, such as roads. In this, the construction, use
Alternative materials and maintenance stages are usually considered. The results of different studies revealed that all stages have
Road construction relevant environmental impacts like topsoil loss, change in the use of land, modification of natural drainage and
Recycling
groundwater patterns, landslides, erosion, sedimentation, landscape degradation, increase in noise and dust
Environmental impacts
levels, fuel and oil spills, waste generation, and air, soil and water pollution.
Sustainability
This paper presents the results of a literature review on the application of LCA in road construction as a tool to
quantify the potential impacts derived from the use of traditional and alternative materials. The research showed
that the most common materials found were recycled asphalt (concrete and bitumen), fly ash, and polymer. In
addition, the environmental impact categories more commonly assessed were energy consumption and global
warming potential (GWP). These results claimed that the construction of roads should be directed towards the
fulfilment of technical, social, economic and environmental criteria. Finally, it was found that most of the studies
were performed for high traffic volume roads; therefore, for developing countries, research is needed focussed on
low traffic ones.

1. Introduction
Academy and industry are adopting a holistic approach considering
environmental, economic and social aspects in the management of
sustainability problems (Carvajal et al., 2014). Environmental issues of
sustainable development refer, for example, to the depletion of natural
resources, global warming, chemical pollution and loss of biodiversity.
Based on this, it is necessary that environmental sustainability is eval-
uated through quantitative measurements, which can support the
analysis of environmental impacts.
Based on the above rationale, in the construction and use of roads, it
is necessary to consider sustainability criteria, because they are a
needed contribution to the growth and development of nations, which
provides access to employment, social, health, and education services.
In addition, the incorporation of environmental aspects guarantee a
reduction of impacts, by reducing the use of traditional materials and
replacing them for alternative ones.
This paper is a literature review of studies conducted using the Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for roads construction with al-
ternative materials. These alternative materials may be: rubber (Chiu
et al., 2008), steel slag (Ferreira et al., 2016), polymer (Araújo et al.,
2014; Butt, 2014), recycled asphalt (RAP) (Araújo et al., 2014;
Aurangzeb et al., 2014; Bloom et al., 2017; Celauro et al., 2015; Chiu
et al., 2008; Del Ponte, 2016; Huang et al., 2009; Sanger et al., 2017;
Thenoux et al., 2007; Vidal et al., 2013), Recycled concrete pavement
(RCP) or Recycled concrete asphalt (RAS) (Bloom et al., 2017;
Chowdhury et al., 2010; Del Ponte, 2016; Sanger et al., 2017; Yang
et al., 2015) or fly ash (Bloom et al., 2017; Chowdhury et al., 2010; Del
Ponte, 2016; Huang et al., 2009; Kucukvar and Tatari, 2012; Sanger
et al., 2017). There is an opportunity to apply them on unpaved roads in
developing countries, which are normally being stabilized with tradi-
tional materials such as natural aggregates (Larrea-Gallegos et al.,
2017) or lime (da Rocha et al., 2016).
Thus, an added value of this review is to set the state of the art of the
use of alternative materials not only as a substitute for the asphalt layer
but as a soil stabilizer; and to apply those materials not to developing
countries but to developing ones.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gicarvajal@udem.edu.co (G.I. Carvajal).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.01.003
Received 30 May 2017; Received in revised form 27 December 2017; Accepted 3 January 2018
Available online 20 January 2018
0921-3449/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Balaguera et al.
Fig. 1. LCA stages according to ISO 14044:2006.
1.1. Life cycle assessment and product carbon footprint
1.1.1. Life cycle assessment
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is defined as “the compilation and
evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental im-
pacts of a product system throughout its life cycle” (ISO, 2006d).
This methodology describes and analyzes the resources involved in
a system under study and the emissions or wastes derived from its life
cycle: from raw materials extraction to waste management activities. As
main characteristics, it is important to mention that LCA: a) is an
analytical method; b) follows an iterative step-wise procedure; and c)
considers multiple potential environmental impacts of a product or
service according to certain stages analyzed or throughout its life cycle.
During 1970 and 1980 decades, LCA studies were mainly performed
to analyze consumer products (within a cradle-to-grave perspective) or
mainstream materials or components (cradle-to-gate). However, over
time, LCA has evolved to assess the environmental impacts of more
complex systems, including those within the building and construction
sector such as roads, the one this paper focuses in (Fig. 1).
According to the methodology proposed by the ISO 14040 standard
(ISO, 2006d), an LCA has four steps, which are not merely sequential.
As Fig. 2 shows, LCA is an iterative technique that allows increasing the
level of detail in successive repetitions. The first stage is the definition
of goal and scope, which means the reason why the study will be per-
formed and offers a description of the product system related to its
limits and its functional unit (Finnveden et al., 2009). The second stage
is the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), where all processes within the system
are described, and resources and emissions are allocated (Rebitzer
et al., 2004), using different tools and methods to collect them (Fullana
et al., 2008). The third stage assesses the environmental impact pro-
duced by the resource use and emissions found in the inventory, in-
cluding a previous collection of impact categories and indicators. The
last stage is the interpretation, where the results from the previous
stages are analyzed in terms of significance, variability, quality, etc. The
interpretation also includes the conclusions and recommendations to
improve or change any process/product, considering the goal and scope
3. Measurements of
2. Define the
1. Describe the the emissions data
boundary and scope and calculate the
methodology of analysis
footprint
4.Check results 5. Divulge the
(optional) footprint (optional).
Fig. 2. Global footprint methodology scheme defined by ISO 14064: 2006.
Source: ISO (2006b)
38
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
of the assessment.
1.1.2. Carbon footprint
Carbon Footprint (CF) is a method used to quantify the amount of
greenhouse gas emissions associated with a company (Corporate
Carbon Footprint, CCF) or with the life cycle of an activity or a product/
service (Product Carbon Footprint, PCF) in order to determine its
contribution to climate change (Fullana et al., 2008).
CF not only involves CO2 emissions but also other greenhouse gases
−GHG- which contribute to global warming as well, converting the
individual results of each GHG to CO2 equivalents. In other words, the
PCF is a limited version of an LCA, and used as an LCA proxy (Baitz
et al., 2013; Bala et al., 2010), in which only one impact category, re-
lative to Global Warming, is considered.
ISO has developed a series of standards numbered between ISO
14064 (ISO, 2006b) and 14069 (ISO, 2006c) for its quantification,
aiming at giving credibility and assurance to GHG emissions reports,
both for quantification or for reduction. The World Resources Institute
−WRI- has written a number of GHG protocols for different scopes and
sectors: agriculture, Portfolio Carbon Initiative, Potential Emissions
from Fossil Fuels, public sector, Pharmaceutical Products and Medical
Devices, Concrete Sector, etc. (World Resources Institute, 2004). Fig. 2
shows a five-step systematic approach, suitable for producing an ac-
curate carbon footprint.
1.2. The construction sector and roads importance
Road infrastructures provide a fundamental basis for contributing to
the development of all national economies, ensuring economic and
social profits. Public roads are one of the largest sources of revenue for
most countries, accounting for more than 500,000 km. Road transport
represents between 3% and 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); a
percentage that does not take into account inputs of transport equip-
ment of fuel and infrastructure. In fact, the real contributions of the
transport to the GDP are between 10% and 20% (European
Commission, 2013).
Roads not only have advantages in economic terms. They ensure
access for all restricted rural areas, allowing farmers to transport their
crops. They also contribute to the reduction of absenteeism levels in
schools. In addition, access to the main cities, where medical infra-
structure is concentrated, can improve life quality of people. (World
Bank, 1992).
Economic development has, firstly, a great influence in the techni-
ques used to produce construction materials, as traditionally they must
travel long distances between their source and the place where they will
be used. Secondly, it has led to the depletion of nearby natural re-
sources. Moreover, it has increased pollutant emissions due to industrial
processes. Since the mid-twentieth century, the high demand for con-
struction materials has increased the need to extract and process a high
amount of natural resources, develop new materials, and treat large
quantities of different types of construction and demolition waste −
with the energy cost that this represents.
Roads are at the vertebrae of the transport sector. Their construction
and maintenance are strategic and represent two of the most important
sources of income and/or expenditure. For example, for European
Union countries, roads accounted for 72% of freight transport in 2011.
Developing countries are said to be mostly dependent on road transport
and, most of the time, quantified information associated with costs is
difficult to get, because access to it is complex due to the geographic
location. Another critical situation is related with traffic level: there is a
constant increase of new roads and maintenance (World Road
Association, 2014).
However, decision makers do not properly dimension the im-
portance of road construction and maintenance, since the justification
for their financing does not include environmental, economic, social
and safety criteria (International Development Commitiee, 2011).
A. Balaguera et al.
During road construction, most of the identified environmental
impacts are associated with stripping of topsoil, levelling and ground
clearance (topsoil removal), modification of existing natural drainage
patterns, changes in the elevation of ground water, landslides and
landscape degradation, interference with the circulation of fauna, and
erosion and sedimentation of rivers (Barris, 2011; Osorio, 2011).Other
consequences may arise, not only at the construction site but also
during the extraction of raw material. An example would be the emis-
sions derived from the use of fuels and soil pollution due to leachate
from materials. Hence, to evaluate the life cycle of alternative materials
used in the road construction process arises as essential to minimize the
related impacts on environment and human health.
When it comes to economic issues, the most critical factors are the
vehicle operating costs and the travel time. And finally, for the people,
the full access to health, education, work and life quality are prioritized
(Parkman and Bradbury, 2012).
1.3. Life cycle assessment in the construction sector
Since the first contribution by the Society of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) (Consoli et al., 1993), LCA stan-
dardization has evolved. The current standards, such as ISO (2006b)
and ISO (2006c), set the basis to establish a further standardization
more focused on the construction sector, taking as an example the de-
velopment of application guides (Lasvaux et al., 2014). In addition, the
release of the ILCD Handbook (European Commission, 2010) fostered
the development of more LC-based normative, which resulted in pro-
duct-focused standards, such as EN (2011) for environmental product
declarations of construction products, such as tiles, for instance
(Benveniste et al., 2011). This European standard, in addition to the
previous ISO 14025 (ISO, 2006a), provides a basis to the construction
sector on which LCA-based environmental assessment and reporting
reliably.
LCA has been considered an accredited tool for assessing sustain-
ability (Bare, 2014) and improvement of construction sector in general
(Ortiz et al., 2009). An LCA that follows EN 15804 considers the stages
implied in the construction life cycle, as Fig. 3 shows. It also describes
the stages of the life cycle of a product that are considered in the En-
vironmental Product Declaration (EPD); includes the rules for calcu-
lating the Life Cycle Inventory and Life Cycle Impact Assessment, and
give details on the quality of the data required. On the one side, this LC
perspective allows environmental analysts to avoid shifting the problem
among the different stages of the construction LC (Fig. 3). On the other
side, it takes into account the assessment of a certain number of impact
categories, which limits problem shifting among different impacts. The
result obtained after assessing a construction product considering the
LC perspective may provide enough information to facilitate eco-design
and knowledge-based comparative assertions. In addition, LCA can go
beyond environmental analysis, to include economic and social aspects,
becoming a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (Albertí et al., 2017).
This point is especially important when dealing with wastes as
Construction
Product Phase Use Phase
process Phase
• Raw Materials • Transport • Use (all the
supply • On site resources needed
• Transport construction during this
• Production process activity)
• Maintenance
• Repairing
• Replacement
• Restorarion
39
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
alternative products (Lehmann et al., 2011).
2. Materials and processes involved in roads stabilization and
construction
2.1. Materials used for road stabilizing processes
In order to improve the mechanical and bearing qualities, and to
meet the requirements of load support according to the pavement de-
sign, the materials used to stabilize soil must be composed of a com-
bination of soil and a stabilizing agent (e.g. cement, lime or asphalt
emulsion). Once the stabilizing agent is selected to improve the soil
characteristics, the mixture must be designed at the laboratory ac-
cording to the properties required to stabilize the soil (Mroueh et al.,
2001).
Furthermore, loads generated on the surface layer and produced by
the flow of vehicular traffic create a pressure on the pavement layers,
which is transmitted from the upper layers downwards and from the
lower layers to the subsoil. This principle applies to the layers of ma-
terial stabilized with a mixture of aggregates (in-situ) and stabilizing
agents. Additionally, stabilization of the subgrade layer is the most
important one in the road structure, as it is the closest to the pavement
surface, where the maximum stress occurs caused by vehicular traffic.
This stabilization can be accomplished by leaving some layers in
granular form and by adding a stabilizing agent to: a) the base layer
alone; b) both the base and sub-base layers; or c) all layers, base, sub-
base and subgrade.
Important to realize, Until year 2000 conventional materials, like
asphalt, concrete, and natural aggregates have been used for road
construction (Mroueh et al., 2001). After this year, different authors
started to describe the use of alternative materials for road construc-
tion, such as: ash (Chowdhury et al., 2010), incineration and glass
waste (Huang et al., 2009), recycled asphalt and recycled concrete
(Kucukvar and Tatari, 2012), rubber (Huang et al., 2007) and others,
that can also support the traffic and population requirements.
2.2. The construction process for traditional roads
After the stabilization process in the subgrade, the construction can
be performed with flexible pavement. The road has a structure made up
of several layers (Fig. 4): subgrade, sub-base, base and asphalt layer.
These are organized in ascending order to receive and transmit loads.
According to Fig. 4, the process of road construction follows a
number of consecutive steps (INVIAS, 2014):
1. Before construction activities start, it is essential to well define the
geometric characteristics and to perform the preliminary activities
(take all the machines to the road, prepare the ditches and stabilize
the slopes).
2. Construction begins preparing the subgrade and sub-base. The
process consists in: making a scarification, homogenization or
Fig. 3. Life Cycle of construction stages.
Source: Wittstock et al., 2012
End of life Phase
• De-construction -
Demolition
• Transport
• Waste treatment
• Final Disposal
A. Balaguera et al.
Fig. 4. Cross section of a traditional road.
Source: adapted from INVIAS (2014)
distribution of the aggregates (or any stabilizer), wetting, aeration,
and compaction. The function of those layers is to uniformly sup-
port, transmit and distribute to the subgrade the loads applied on
the rolling surface of the pavement.
3. The base layer has, as primary function, the distribution and
transmission of the loads caused by the traffic in the rolling layer to
the sub-base. The material to be used must consist of a combination
of gravel finer than that of the previous layer, sand, and soil in its
natural state, all previously classified to be placed on the surface of
the sub-base.
4. The asphalt layer is responsible for directly supporting the move-
ments of the tires and for transmitting the loads to inferior layers. It
is made of asphalt mixtures manufactured in hot or cold and placed
in situ, where the processes of extension, compaction and irrigation
of priming of the asphalt mixture takes place.
5. Finally, in order to proceed with the traffic and vehicle circulation,
an evaluation of the quality parameters such as surface texture,
surface tolerance and density is required.
3. Application of LCA and PCF to road construction for traditional
and alternative materials
In order to contribute to sustainability in road construction, it has
become necessary to increase the research of economically viable so-
lutions with fewer environmental impacts, based on the search for new
materials that can partially or completely replace traditional ones. In
addition, to being sustainable, the solutions must satisfy both the user's
needs and the technical requirements, which means that these materials
guarantee a greater strength to the movement of the vehicles.
Table 1 LCA applications for traditional and alternative materials
used in road construction lists the most relevant information on the
application of the LCA methodology for the use of conventional and
alternative materials in road construction. The table details basic as-
pects of the LCA such as: stages considered in the analysis, the func-
tional unit and considered categories of impact, and, specifically,
whether a GHG analysis was performed. It should be noted that some
authors have found that the place where energy is produced has a
significant influence on GHG emissions, due to the type of system used
to produce it, thermal (coal), nuclear, hydroelectric, among others
(Wang and Huo, 2009); With that said, Energy Consumption has been
identified as one of the impact categories and is highly analyzed in the
studies.
In addition, different applications of the LCA methodology have
been described in the literature with the purpose to evaluate the en-
vironmental impacts caused by the use of traditional and alternative
materials in road construction. Likewise, proposals for tools that assess
the sustainability are characterized. Examples of this tools are PaLATE
and BE2ST. The latter was developed by the Recycled Materials
Resources Center (RMRC-3D), it incorporates economic and environ-
mental variables in the analysis, showing the benefits of the use of al-
ternative materials and facilitating the decision-making of the builders
40
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
and the public sector when deciding on the material to use (Bloom
et al., 2017; Del Ponte, 2016; Sanger et al., 2017).
3.1. Traditional materials: asphalt and concrete mixture
Pavement affects fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. In total,
27% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the transport sector
in the United States (EPA, 2015). It is clear that the sustainability of
transport systems should be improved (Inyim et al., 2016).
During the last 20 years, LCA has been used to quantify the en-
vironmental impacts generated by traditional materials used in road
paving. Santero et al. (2011) found that the first scientific study pub-
lished was performed by Horvath and Hendrickson in 1998. By the
early 2000s, pavement ACV began to be used more frequently.
LCA results have been mainly used to enhance the design and se-
lection of pavement types in different regions of the World: USA
(Aurangzeb et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2014;
Noshadravan et al., 2013; Santos et al., 2015a; Wang et al., 2012; Zhang
et al., 2010) and Canada (Reza et al., 2014); Europe (Celauro et al.,
2015; Santos et al., 2015b; Vidal et al., 2013); and other regions (Araújo
et al., 2014).
In the USA, Kucukvar and Tatari (2012) implemented an LCA model
to estimate the energy consumption and atmospheric emissions of
mixed concrete with fly ash (RCP) and hot mix asphalt (HMA). This
study developed an “Eco-LCA hybrid model”, which evaluates pave-
ments in different stages: extraction and processing of materials trans-
port, operation of processing plants, carrying of pavement to the as-
sembly site, and its application. The functional unit and reference flow
for both alternatives (RCP or HMA) was 1 km of road, taking into ac-
count the requests by the American Association of State Roads and
Transportation Officers as referenced by the literature (Horvath and
Hendrickson, 1998; Rajendran and Gambatese, 2007; Zapata and
Gambatese, 2005). The goal of the Eco-LCA model was to assess the
consumption of ecosystem resources, based on the categories of accu-
mulated energy consumption, cumulative energy consumption, exergy
industrial cumulative consumption and ecological cumulative con-
sumption. The results showed that the HMA mixture generated larger
CO2 emissions than RCP. On the other hand, the increase of CO2, par-
ticulate material and CH4 was due to the increase of fly ash emissions,
released mainly during the cement production phase. Finally, it was
found that for NOx, SO2 and CH4 emissions, those were higher for HMA
compared to RCP (Kucukvar and Tatari, 2012).
Another model was also implemented in the US by Wang et al.
(2012) to analyze energy consumption and GHG emissions for the pa-
vement in production stages, its application, and subsequent use. In the
model, the behaviour of pavements made from concrete and asphalt for
the rehabilitation of different roads was evaluated, taking into account
different traffic levels and rolling resistances. The study found the levels
of energy and GHG emissions savings from pavement rehabilitation
(total surface layer replacement) compared to an alternative model in
which only routine pavement maintenance was performed (point ac-
tivities such as covering critical points that are being affected). The
sources of data included in the analysis were: 1) the LCI of pavement
published by Stripple et al. in Sweden (Stripple, 1998); 2) the asphalt
inventory produced by the Athena Institute in Canada (Athena Institute,
2006); 3) EcoInvent, the American LCI produced by the National Re-
newable Energy Laboratory (Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories,
2011); 4) the Portland Cement Association (PCA) cement LCI study
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2011); 5) and other data
sources. The results showed that, in roads with low traffic volume, al-
though the rehabilitation is cheaper, energy consumption and GHG
emissions may be higher compared to a routine pavement maintenance
(Wang et al., 2012).
At the same time a LCA model was conducted by Yu and Lu (2012)
to estimate the environmental load of pavements, taking into account
three materials and carrying them: Portland cement coating (PCC),
 Table 1
LCA applications for traditional and alternative materials used in road construction.

Material Author/Year Country GHG1 Analyzed Parameters Functional Unit (FU) Stages considered
A. Balaguera et al.

Mix of asphalt or concrete Kucukvar and Tatari USA Yes Energy consumption 1 km of road Materials production and processing,
(2012) transportation, mixing plant operations, and
placement of the pavements.
Yu and Lu (2012) USA Yes Energy consumption and sulfur oxides (SOx), volatile 1 km of road Materials production, construction, use,
organic compounds (VOCs), particles (< 10 microns) maintenance and rehabilitation, and end of life.
(PM10))
Wang et al. (2012) USA Yes Energy consumption Between 8 and 16 km, and 1 kg of material Materials production, construction, maintenance
used and rehabilitation, use.
Vidal et al. (2013) Spain Yes Depletion of fossil fuels and energy demand 1 km long, width of 13 m and thickness of Materials production, transportation,
0.08 m construction, use, maintenance, end of life.
Yu et al. (2013) USA Yes Energy consumption 1 km of road Materials production, transportation,
construction, use, maintenance, end of life.
Araújo et al. (2014) Portugal Yes Energy consumption 1.0 km and 9.0 m width Materials production, construction, use,
maintenance, end of life.
Ash from the incineration of Olsson et al. (2006) Sweden Yes Resources, emissions to air and emissions to water. 1 km 465 mm for the sub-base and 80 and Materials production, construction, use,
municipal solid waste 150 mm for the base demolition, end of life
(MSWI) Birgisdóttir et al. Denmark Yes 1 km Materials production, construction, use,
(2006) demolition, end of life
Birgisdóttir et al. Denmark Yes 1 km Materials production, construction, use,
(2007) demolition, end of life
Glass waste Huang et al. (2009) United Kingdom Yes Energy consumption 30,000 m2 of the asphalt surface Materials production, construction
Steel slag Ferreira et al. Spain No Soil, leaching and runoff waters; energy consumption 1 m2 of pavement Materials processing, construction
(2016) and generation of emissions
Rubber Chiu et al. (2008) Taiwan No Eco-load in terms of energy consumption 1-km asphalt road Material production, transportation,
construction, maintenance, use

41
Polymer Araújo et al. (2014) Portugal Yes Energy consumption 1.0 km and 9.0 m width Materials production, construction, use,
maintenance, end of life.
Butt (2014) Sweden Yes Energy consumption 1 km of road Construction, maintenance, end of life
Recycled asphalt Thenoux et al. Chile No Energy consumption in equivalent energy units (MJ/ 20 km of section Material production, transportation, demolition,
(2007) m3) construction
Chiu et al. (2008) Taiwan No Eco-load in terms of energy consumption 1-km asphalt road Material production, transportation,
construction, maintenance, use
Huang et al. (2009) United Kingdom Yes Energy consumption 30,000 m2 of the asphalt surface Materials production, construction
Vidal et al. (2013) Spain Yes Depletion of fossil fuels and energy demand 1 km long, width of 13 m and thickness of Materials production, transportation,
0.08 m construction, use, maintenance, end of life.
Aurangzeb et al. USA Yes Energy consumption 1.6 km of road Materials production, construction, maintenance,
(2014) end of life
Araújo et al. (2014) Portugal Yes Energy consumption 1.0 km and 9.0 m width Materials production, construction, use,
maintenance, end of life.
Celauro et al. Italy Yes Energy consumption 1.0 km of road Materials production, construction, use,
(2015) maintenance and rehabilitation, and end of life.
Del Ponte (2016) USA Yes Energy and water consumption and waste generation. 1.6 km Material production, transportation, construction
Bloom et al. (2017) USA Yes Energy, Water Consumption, PM10, SO2, Hg, Pb, 1.6 km Material production, transportation, construction
Hazardous Waste, cancerous human toxicity potential
(HTP) and non-cancerous HTP.
Fly ash Huang et al. (2009) United Kingdom Yes Energy consumption 30,000 m2 of the asphalt surface Materials production, construction
Chowdhury et al. USA Yes Acidification potential and several toxicity potentials 500m3 Materials production and processing,
(2010) (water and soil) transportation, construction
Kucukvar and Tatari USA Yes Energy consumption 1 km of road Materials production and processing,
(2012) transportation, mixing plant operations, and
placement of the pavements.
Bloom et al. (2017) USA Yes Energy (TJ), Water Consumption, PM10, SO2, Hg, Pb, 1.6 km Material production, transportation, construction
Hazardous Waste, cancerous human toxicity potential
(HTP) and non-cancerous HTP.
(continued on next page)
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
A. Balaguera et al. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48

HMA and the crack, seat and overlay (CSOL); also it was consider
building the road, traffic level, use and end of life. The study concluded
that there were fewer environmental loads at the base when using
Material production, construction, use, Portland cement and crack. Those fewer environmental loads were also
Materials production and processing,

Material production, Transportation,

expressed in the sub-base, by replacing hot mix asphalt with different

Material production, construction

alternatives. The third major conclusion is that the materials contribute
transportation, construction

to energy consumption and air pollution during the stage of use, which
maintenance, end-of-life

are sensitive to traffic growth.

Later, another study was developed by the RMRC Group, in which a
Stages considered

methodology was introduced for LCA of pavements. In addition, mar-

ginal costs of damages caused by different contaminants was estimated,
construction

so-called Environmental Damage Costs (EDC) and, finally, an algorithm

was developed to link Life Cycle Costing Assessment (LCCA) with LCA.
This study was applied for three different coating systems: PCC, hot
asphalt (HMA) and crack, in the base and sub-base. The results showed
Secondary Construction Material (GSCM) to

that the EDC represented greater influence on total costs; and the de-
1 ton of industrial waste as Granular

veloped model (LCA-LCCA) was effective for energy savings and re-
duction of GHG emissions, with percentages between 5.9% and 12.3%
for all three designs. In addition, it is reasonable to expect lower en-
vironmental loads and lower total costs for PCC and CSOL in contrast to
cover an specific area

the HMA option. However, uncertainties exist in the usage module

Functional Unit (FU)

1.6 km of roadway

because of the assumptions used in the assessed stages (Yu et al., 2013).
In Spain, LCA was applied to asphalt pavements such as HMA, hot
mix asphalt with addition of synthetic zeolites (WMA) and a blend of
recycled RAP. This study quantified energy and atmospheric emissions,
1.6 km
3
500m

and assessed the stages of: extraction and processing of materials (mi-
nerals, chemical additives and asphalt); their transportation; paving;
Energy (TJ), Water Consumption, PM10, SO2, Hg, Pb,
Hazardous Waste, cancerous human toxicity potential

dismantling; and disposal or recycling of waste. The study included a

Acidification potential and several toxicity potentials

Monte Carlo simulation, where it was found that the environmental

impact generated by WMA was very similar to that generated by HMA.
There was also a decrease in the impacts generated by WMA due to the
Ozone depletion, smog, acidification and

reduction of temperatures during its manufacture. Finally, the com-

parison between HMA and the RAP blend (RAP content around 15%)
showed a reduction of impacts for the second case, with a 13–14%
(HTP) and non-cancerous HTP.
Resource use and ecotoxicity

reduction of climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and energy con-

sumption. This indicated that the addition of RAP in traditional blends
Analyzed Parameters

of HMA becomes a good alternative of paving in environmental terms

(Vidal et al., 2013).
(water and soil)

eutrophication

3.2. Ash from the incineration of municipal solid waste (MSWI)

During the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) its volume

GHG1

and mass are reduced 90 and 70% respectively. However, 80% of this
Yes

Yes

Yes

No

type of waste corresponds to fly ash which is around 800 million kg

worldwide (Celik et al., 2015; Kumar Mehta, 2010). Nevertheless, in-
cineration of waste is not the final phase in its treatment, so the options
Switzerland

for reuse and disposal of municipal waste have been the focus of dif-
Country

ferent research for a long time (Chimenos et al., 1999). That is why the
USA

USA

USA

use of waste as alternative material in road construction and the

quantification of its environmental impacts through LCA, has become
Bloom et al. (2017)
Yang et al. (2015)
Chowdhury et al.

an option that reduces the consumption of non-renewable resources, as

Schwab et al.

well as waste going to landfills (ttir et al., 2007, 2006;).

Author/Year

In Denmark, the impacts from the use of resources and the emissions
(2010)

(2014)

generated were studied. The research considered if the material from

the sub-base of roads was replaced by MSWI, considering the life cycle
of them, and the waste management from the conventional materials.
The study involved the analysis of two scenarios, comparing resource
use and emissions. In the first scenario, the crushed rock was used in the
sub-base. For the second scenario, the crushed rock of the sub-base was
replaced by MSWI. In both cases, crushed rock was used for the base
Table 1 (continued)

Industrial waste

layer. The dimensions of the layers analyzed were 465 mm thick in the
RCP or RAS
Material

1
GHG = greenhouse gases emissions. Different authors use different wordings all
around the same concept. For example: kg CO2, carbon footprint, climate change, GWP,
etc.

42
A. Balaguera et al.
sub-base and 80 and 150 mm for alternatives 1 and 2, respectively. The
environmental aspects analyzed were associated to the resources con-
sumed (materials used and energy consumed), air emissions (SO2, NOx,
CO2, HC, CH4, VOC, N2O and particles) and emissions to water (COD,
Phenol, Ace, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The results showed that the
scenarios analyzed may generate leachates and a high consumption of
resources. However, for the case where crushed rock is used in both
layers, the use of resources is increased. For the scenario where MSWI
was used, it produced high levels of leachate. Finally, an expected result
was quantitatively and systematically demonstrated by the use of LCA:
it was found that the increase in energy consumption was mainly due to
the process of crushing the stone and to the transport distance of the
road building material (Olsson et al., 2006).
3.3. Glass waste
Recycled glass is an ideal material since it can be recycled several
times without losing its properties. In addition, its use can save up to
60% of energy in its production compared to a virgin material. The
studies from FHWA (1997), Reindl (1998), Shayan and Xu (2004) and
Huang et al. (2007) reported a large number of applications for recycled
glass, such as substitute material for aggregates in roads and building
construction (Disfani et al., 2011), insulation fibers, landscaping,
among others.
As mentioned above, recycled glass can replace aggregate in road
building. Huang et al. (2009) evaluated the environmental impacts of
the asphalt paving London Heathrow Terminal 5, in which a portion of
the natural aggregates was replaced by recycled glass, incineration ash
and RAP. The functional unit used in the analysis was 30,000 m2 of
asphalt surface and the distribution of the pavement layers were:
35 mm Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) surface course, 77 mm High Mod-
ulus Bituminous (HMB) binder course and 205 mm HMB base. In the
results, it was found that the mixture of asphalt, bitumen and aggregate
production consumed around 62%, 23% and 6% of energy, respec-
tively, which led to an increase in emissions compared to other pro-
cesses. On the other hand, it was found that the use of recycled glass
and incineration ash reduced the energy consumed by asphalt pro-
duction (around 7%). Another benefit is the reduction in the amount of
natural aggregates used, from 5766 t of these, to 579 t of glass waste or
989 t of incineration ash. Finally, it was evidenced that the mixture
with glass had less GWP (869 t CO2) than the mixture with traditional
materials (888 t CO2) (Huang et al., 2009).
3.4. Steel slag
Steel industry is one of the most important in the industrial sector,
due to the high economic impact it has. In addition, it is said that its
overall production rate is approximately 50 million tons per year
(Ferreira et al., 2016). This production generate emissions which are
caused because the industry is heavily dependent on electricity or coal
for the development of its different processes (Eloneva et al., 2010),
contributing significantly to climate change (IPCC, 2014).
Apart from the high amounts of energy required for its production,
the consumption by itself increases waste as steel slag. Of which it is
said that by producing 3 t of steel, approximately 1 t of these slags can
be generated, representing fifty million tons per year in the world
(Proctor et al., 2000).
Due to this amount of waste and the environmental impacts they
represent, alternatives to reuse as raw material in road paving to re-
places or mix with natural aggregates, asphalt or concrete (Huang et al.,
2007; Mladenovič et al., 2015; Rađenović et al., 2013; Sáez-de-Guinoa
Vilaplana et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2015b).
3.5. Rubber
The disposal of waste tires in places not provided for this purpose
43
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
represents a number of environmental problems due to their difficulty
of degradation and the problems associated with air and ground
emissions; in the first case due to the emissions of polyaromatic hy-
drocarbons and in the second case due to leaching of heavy metals. It is
calculated that around 17 million tons of tire waste are generated each
year around the world, of which 52% is burned as fuel, 12% is used as
the basic material in rubber manufacture, 16% in the mixture of asphalt
and concrete; And less than 14% is taken to landfills (Feraldi et al.,
2013; Rubber Manufactures Association, 2017).
In Taiwan was developed an LCI for three different recycled mate-
rials (RAP, asphalt-rubber and asphalt-glass) were compared with
HMA, through Eco-indicator 99 to evaluate the environmental impact
generated by the use of recycled materials to the asphalt pavements
maintenance. The thickness of the asphalt layer was 5 cm and the ser-
vice life was 6 years, the environmental impact obtained by the tradi-
tional asphalt was 3.45 kPt2 per km/lane. The use of RAP reduced the
load by 23% under the same settings. The use of asphalt-rubber in-
creased the impact on 16%, however for asphalt-glass remained almost
the same (a reduction of less than 1%). On the other hand, a period of
40 years of useful life was evaluated for each material used. Based on
the above, the traditional asphalt presented a load of 23.03 kPt; while
for asphalt-rubber and RAP can reduce it by 23%. On the contrary,
asphalt-glass increases the load by 19%. Additionally, those authors
also identified the causes of the load for these asphalts, evidencing that
the type of asphalt used (39–48%) and the energy type used for the
processing of paving materials (42–50%) are the most representative
(Chiu et al., 2008).
3.6. Polymer
To increase the useful life of the roads and growth the maintenance
times, changes associated with improving the geometric design of the
roads using alternative materials and the improvement in the quality of
the mixture against premature damages should be considered. Such is
the case of Polymers such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) which are
frequently used as a substitute in the mixture for paving roads. The
advantage of these types of compounds over others is the ability to
create an equilibrium system in the bitumen by molecular interactions
with it (Isacsson and Zeng, 1998). Some studies have found that the
addition of a small amount of polymer (between 3 and 6% depending
on what type of polymer is used) contributes to improving the prop-
erties of the binder against cracking (Butt, 2014; Kim et al., 2009;
Kumar et al., 2006; Lu and Isacsson, 2000; Ping and Xiao, 2011; Romeo
et al., 2010; Sengoz and Isikyakar, 2008).
In Sweden, during 2014 the behaviour of the properties of an as-
phalt blend mixed with small amounts of polymer were analyzed. This
study suggests that the decrease in the thickness of the asphalt layer
saves energy and reduces emissions, however when adding the
polymer, the emissions generated during production and transport must
be considered, in this way can be evaluated if this material increase
resources and energy savings or emissions reduction. In this case study,
three polymer blends were analyzed in different percentages. The
functional unit was of 1 km asphalt road per 4 m lane for the 25 years
design life. The analyzed aspects were the consumption of energy, fuel
consumed during transportation and the amount of CO2-eq generated
for each mixture. The results showed benefits from energy savings and
reduction in GHG emissions and increased crack resistance of the road
(Butt, 2014).
Another LCA study dealing with plastic for construction was per-
formed. They study evaluated the construction and the use of a road to
assess different paving blends, calculating energy consumption and the
GWP. The asphalt alternatives chosen were: a surface of a mixture of
conventional asphalts; a mixture of a slightly softer asphalt made of a
2
kPt: measure of Ecoindicator 99.
A. Balaguera et al.
modified bitumen with plastic or PMB; a conventional asphalt binder
and/or a base blend of bitumen; a recycled asphalt binder and/or a base
blend made of half percentage of RAP (Araújo et al., 2014).
3.7. Recycled asphalt
The recycling of the asphalt pavement facilitates the reuse of ma-
terials which optimize the consumption of natural resources. Based on
this, it was found that RAP is a different alternative to traditional ma-
terials, since it reduces the need to use natural aggregates, which in
various parts of the world are scarce. On the other hand, it also reduces
the amounts of asphalt required for road paving. Additionally, the use
of a high RAP percentage contributes to cost and energy savings.
However, as mentioned above, energy consumption is also determined
by the energy mix used in each country where the construction process
is developed (Wang and Huo, 2009). According to a study developed by
FWA (2016a,b), it was found that mixtures of long-life pavements
containing 30 percent RAP, present similar yields to those of traditional
ones based on different studies performed by the Recycled Material
Resources Center (RMRC-3G) in the US (Bloom et al., 2017; Del Ponte,
2016).
The RMRC-3G developed a LCA and a LCCAs of two roads re-
construction projects in Wisconsin (USA). The projects were developed
by replacing traditional material with RAP and the analysis was de-
veloped from the PaLATE tool. The evaluated aspects were: Energy Use,
GWP, Water Consumption, Costs, Hazardous Waste, In Situ Recycling
and Total Recycling. The case study demonstrated the environmental
and economic benefits of using recycled materials in road construction.
It was found that the use of recycled materials led to a decrease in
energy and water consumption, CO2 emissions and generation of ha-
zardous waste. The reductions in the four categories analyzed ranged
from 9 to 39%. This allowed us to reaffirm that the use of smaller RAP
will be the environmental impact (Bloom et al., 2017). Another ex-
ample developed by this research center and using the same PaLATE
tool was a study in which LCA and LCCA were developed using quan-
tities of recycled material in six different states of the USA; Georgia,
Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. The en-
vironmental parameters of energy consumption, water consumption,
carbon dioxide emissions and generation of hazardous wastes were
analyzed, evidencing percentage reductions between 70 and 99 percent
of the same ones when RAP was used; when the cost analysis found a
possible savings of up to 17 million dollars (Del Ponte, 2016).
Other studies performed a life cycle inventory using alternative
materials to evaluate the environmental impact of their use for the
construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of asphalt pavements
(Araújo et al., 2014; Aurangzeb et al., 2014; Celauro et al., 2015; Chiu
et al., 2008; Huang et al., 2009; Vidal et al., 2013). The analyzed in-
dicators were: energy consumption, CO2 footprint or GWP and deple-
tion of fossil fuels. And the most common functional unit was 1 km, but
it depended on the geometrical design and the thickness of the binder
modified.
In Chile the LCA methodology was applied to evaluate energy
consumption for three types of road maintenance processes in Chile:
repaving, recycling and reconstruction. Three types of techniques
where assessed: (1) new layer of asphalt concrete on top of an existing
roadway; (2) replacing the existing distressed pavement, including
granular layers with a new pavement structure; and (3) reclaiming
100% of the existing pavement materials (RAP), aiming to form a new
pavement layer. The study considered expected traffic levels and soil
support values. For each process, the energy consumption according to
its type (diesel, natural gas or electricity) was quantified, taking these
consumptions to MJ and thus to be able to determine the energy needed
to produce any unit volume resource (MJ/m3). The performance of the
machines, the consumption of diesel, natural gas and energy were ob-
tained from the manuals of operation of used machinery and the con-
sumptions were quantified during the development of the activities.
44
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
The results showed that the recycling maintenance consumes less en-
ergy in relation to the reconstruction process or doing a repaving. On
the other hand, it was also found that the transport distance is the factor
that most influences the total energy consumption for the three pro-
cesses (Thenoux et al., 2007).
Finally, Araújo et al. (2014) performed another study that used RAP
in roads to evaluate different paving alternatives with LCA metho-
dology. The study considered the construction and use of a road, with
reference to energy consumption, gaseous emissions and Global
Warming Potential (GWP). The authors analyzed different doses of RAP
in road construction. The results showed that the use of RAP can further
reduce the gaseous emissions of the construction phase, because with
the addition of 50% RAP reduces energy consumption by 3%, SO2
emissions by 23% and about 15% for CH4, N2O and NOx. However,
some improvements in the road characteristics for the use phase had an
effect that balanced initial costs and emissions, with respect to the
construction stage.
3.8. Fly ash
Fly ash has been identified as a cost-effective alternative in the
mixture with HMA. Depending on where the ash is generated, its cost
may be lower than that of other traditional materials. In addition,
thanks to its specific gravity, a performance like the material tradi-
tionally used in the HMA mix can be obtained by using less of these
ashes, thus contributing to economic savings. The utility of this type of
materials is that they are hydrophobic, increase stiffness, reduce the
amount of asphalt drain down in the mix, improving its resistance,
increasing its durability and avoiding the future asphalt stripping
(FWA, 2016b).
As with the RAPs, the RMRC-3G, conducted case studies in route to
Wisconsin (Bloom et al., 2017), Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsyl-
vania and Virginia (Del Ponte, 2016), where fly ash was used as a re-
placement material, evidencing impact reduction and costs of using this
type of alternative material.
First, a study was performed to compared the costs and environ-
mental impacts related with two mixtures of RCP, the first with fly ash
and the second with natural aggregates. The functional unit was
1500 m3 volume of a road. The distance travelled by the ash and the
natural aggregates from their production to the site of construction
were by trucks of 32 tons by 50 km and 100 km, respectively. The en-
vironmental impacts were analyzed in terms of energy consumption,
acidification potential, GWP, human toxicity potential, aquatic eco-
toxicity potential, aquatic sediment ecotoxicity potential and terrestrial
ecotoxicity potential. The data used for the model was taken from the
literature and from the CMLCA database (characterization factors and
other data). The results did not show that these materials had a sig-
nificant performance among them. However, ash presented lower costs
and lower incidence in the GWP and potential acidification categories.
Finally, it was found that for the toxicities, the ashes had less values
than the natural aggregates (Chowdhury et al., 2010).
As indicated in a previous chapter on glass residues, Huang et al.
(2009) developed the LCA paving with different blends of asphalt for
access from London Heathrow Terminal-5 (LHR), where natural ag-
gregates were partially replaced by incinerator bottom ash.
In the other hand, another LCA was developed in the US to evaluate
the energy consumption and atmospheric emissions of concrete and
asphalt mixtures with fly ash. The study analyzed the stages of ex-
traction, processing and transport of raw materials, the operation of
processing plants and, finally, the transportation of mixtures to the
construction site. The application of the model was developed in the
same way as fly ash, evaluating the impacts in the form of cumulative
mass consumption, cumulative energy consumption, accumulated ex-
ergic industrial consumption and accumulated ecological cumulative
consumption. The results showed that the highest CO2 emissions were
those of HMA. However, it was found that by adding fly ash to the
A. Balaguera et al. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48

Table 2
Usefulness of materials in road construction.

Material Advantages Pitfalls Challenges

Mix of asphalt or concrete Are the most commonly used materials and the
traditional building systems are designed for
them
Ash from the incineration Reduce environmental damage it would cause
of municipal solid as landfilling
waste (MSWI)
Glass waste Reduce environmental damage it would cause
as recycling it to develop new glass processes.
The use of traditional materials.
Steel slag The mixture with the material presents good
technical properties of the built roads.
Reduce environmental damage it would cause
as landfilling.
Larges amount available to use as alternative
material
Rubber Reduce environmental damage it would cause
as landfilling.
Larges amount available to use as alternative
material
Polymer The use of recycled materials in the asphalt
layers reduces the gaseous emissions of the
construction phase, due to the reduction in the
use of raw materials.
The mixture with the material presents good
technical properties of the built roads.
Reduction of the energy consumption
Recycled asphalt The mixture with the material presents good
technical properties of the built roads.
The use of RAP as matter reduces the
extraction of virgin raw materials, the
processing of the asphalt and the disposition of
the asphalt in landfill.
Fly ash Lower costs and less influence on GWP
categories and potential acidification.
Diversion of by-products from their placement
in landfills and conservation of resources.
RCP or RAS Energy consumption, GWP, and costs decrease
as RAS content is increased.
Industrial waste The use of industrial waste as matter reduces
the extraction of virgin raw materials, the
processing of the asphalt and the disposition of
those waste in landfill.
Impacts of virgin raw materials used;
emissions of GHG, particulate matter and
VOCs; and by energy consumption during its
life cycle
Since incineration is not a technique to be
carried out in all countries, the availability of
material to build large road lengths could be
restricted.
The possibility of generating leachates that
penetrate the water and generate pollution.
Transportation costs.
Waste glass for construction aggregates
overall consumes more energy and releases
more CO2 than sending them to landfill
Energy consumption associated to the
crushing process.
Asphalt rubber is more expensive and
requires a higher working temperature.
The asphalt rubber lasts longer while using
more asphalt.
Costs and resources necessary for its
transformation into material suitable for a
mixture with asphalt.
Contamination of the soil by leachate during
road construction arises from the leaching of
pollutants from the asphalt pavement.
Uncertainty in data related to leachate
concentration emissions and characterization
factors can lead to large errors in impact
calculations.
The material in the mixture with asphalt
shows cracks during the winter season.
Pollution in the soil and groundwater by
heavy metal leachates.
Use of mixtures with materials that guarantee the
technical properties of the constructed roads, as
well as the useful life of the same ones
Develop a deactivation of the heavy metals that
have this type of ash before being used in the
construction of the roads do not generate
leachates that can affect the soil and groundwater
Identify other environmental benefits that extend
the limits of the system in the analysis to the
quarries, the transport scenarios, the restriction of
landfills, etc.
Attention must be paid to the porosity of the
selected black slag as it can lead to an increase in
asphalt consumption.
Look for a mix between rubber and a different
material than asphalt but with the same
properties.
Although other variables can be included in the
LCA, for this material it is necessary to include the
economic and social effects of the use of recycled
materials.
Increase the percentages of RAP in the mix for
each time reduce more the use of asphalt.
Consider leachate to soil on the environmental
assess.
It is necessary to quantify the environmental loads
by the transformation of the ashes into materials
for the construction of roads as they are unknown.
Consider RAS sizes that do not require pre-
grinding to be used in the asphalt mix
Analyze the influence of leachates based on the
geographical conditions of each soil where the
material can be applied.

mixture, CO2, CH4 and particulate material emissions increased due to
their release during the cement production stage (Kucukvar and Tatari,
2012).
3.9. Recycled concrete pavement (RCP)
Extensive use of natural aggregates in road construction has gra-
dually aggravated this resource near areas where aggregates are in high
demand. The need for resource conservation and large transport dis-
tances has increased the need to use alternative materials to replace
natural aggregates (Chowdhury et al., 2010). Among the environmental
benefits it has been found that recycling the concrete in the same place
where it is going to be used reduces the consumption of fuels and
emissions, because transport is not required to carry the materials. And
therefore represents savings from an economic point of view (Portland
Cement Association, 2010).
The use of recycled materials in road paving, such as RAS or RCP, is
currently considered a widely used sustainable alternative thanks to its
technical properties, which allow it to partially replace raw materials.
Such is the case of as Chowdhury et al. (2010), Yang et al. (2015) and
the RMRC-3G (Bloom et al., 2017; Del Ponte, 2016) who developed
studies evaluating the environmental and economic benefits of repla-
cing traditional RCP materials using LCA methodology.
In the first Chowdhury et al. (2010), evaluated the environmental
impacts were compared by the use of natural aggregates, fly ash and
CPR, as substitutes in mixtures for road paving. The functional unit was
1500 m3 volume, considering that the materials used and natural ag-
gregates were transported by trucks of 32 tons per 50 km and 100 km,
respectively. The impact categories analyzed were global warming
potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and various toxicity po-
tentials. It was found that the ashes delivered better results in terms of
costs, the GWP and the AP. CPRs presented greater GWP and AP po-
tential compared to natural aggregates. For the toxicity categories, fly
ash presented greater impacts than the others; that CPRs, in all cases,
showed a much lower toxicity than the natural aggregates.
For the case of Yang et al. (2015), eleven RCP designs were eval-
uated in Illinois with different replacement rates. The functional unit
was an asphalt road 1.6 km, 102 mm deep, to last 15-year. The life cycle
impacts of the production of the mixtures were calculated in terms of
energy consumption, GWP and costs. The results showed a reduction in

45
A. Balaguera et al.
the evaluated impacts for the production of mixture, increasing the
amounts of CPR. However, when suitable mix designs are not pre-
sented, shorter lifetimes may occur. On the other hand, the concept of
break-even point was implemented to determine the point at which the
decrease in the useful life, according to the amount of RCP used, and
the relation with the energy savings are presented. Based on the above,
it was found that the break-even point had a great relation with the
traffic level of the road, since when this one was increased energy
savings were obtained with respect to the stage of production of the
material but with a small decrease of the useful life of the pavement.
Finally, this study provided a framework of sustainability and a case
study that demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of in-
creasing the amount of RCP in its flexible pavements.
3.10. Industrial waste
Due to the high production of mineral waste by developed coun-
tries, these have sought different applications such as road construction,
from the replacement of natural aggregates by them. However, it has
been found that these types of materials can generate leachates as
heavy metals, which can affect groundwater (Fullana-i-Palmer et al.,
2011). On the other hand, the influence of these emissions is generally
not taken into account in the LCAs (Schwab et al., 2014) of waste
treatment products or services and, therefore, potentially large en-
vironmental impacts, as is the case of those produced by the Cd (Raugei
et al., 2012).
In Germany a study was carried out to evaluate the ecotoxicity
caused by leaching of heavy metals such as Sb, As, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mo,
Ni, V and Zn, from the application of industrial wastes as substitute of
mixture in the paving of roads. For this case study, the residues applied
as secondary granular material (GSCM) generated about 45,000 tons of
different heavy metals per year, and that up to 150 tons of these could
be filtered for a period of 100 years. The functional unit analyzed was 1
ton of GSCM. Additionally, in the analyzed area it was found that when
precipitation episodes occur and pollutants are released over time;
however, emissions into groundwater could be reduced by up to 100%
by the retention of this type of contaminant in the subsoil layer. On the
other hand, the results showed the importance of technical, geographic,
material quality, type of construction system and type of soil in the
leachate analysis made by LCA. Likewise, it was possible to conclude
that the quantitative evaluation of the environmental impacts by
leaching, allows to design strategies for the management of residues
construction sector (Schwab et al., 2014).
3.11. Usefulness of materials in road construction
Table 2 presents a compilation of advantages, pitfalls and challenges
presented by the materials previously (Table 1) analyzed using the LCA
methodology and its use as a replacement for asphalt in road con-
struction.
4. Conclusions
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely considered a useful metho-
dology to facilitate the way towards sustainable development by ana-
lyzing, in an objective, methodical, systematic and scientific way, dif-
ferent potential environmental impacts associated with each of the
stages of a product life cycle. Although, at a first stage, LCA was only
used for simpler products, it has been more and more applied to more
complex products or services, including those in the construction
sector, where roads play a relevant role.
This review shows that the most commonly used functional unit
(FU) in LCA of roads is 1 km of constructed road. However, the FU
should include information on the geometrical design of the road, the
traffic level which it will hold, and structural components and its ma-
terial properties. The main goal by these LCA studies is to find
46
Resources, Conservation & Recycling 132 (2018) 37–48
ecodesign options in road construction, by using different combinations
of recycled materials in their mixes. The most commonly used impact
categories are: energy consumption and global warming potential
(GWP). Finally, the stages that are analyzed in most of the studies are:
materials production, construction, maintenance and end of life.
LCA has been applied to the construction of roads that use waste or
recovered materials such as: fly ash, recycled asphalt, recycled concrete
pavement, glass, and steel slag and polymer. This option is an alter-
native to the use of traditional ones, like: natural aggregates, asphalt or
concrete, depending on the type of road.
It has been found that the most representative advantage of the
materials analyzed is that they reduce the environmental impact by
avoiding disposal in landfill. The pitfall that most presents this type of
materials is the energy that is required to be transformed into suitable
materials for road construction. And finally, the most important chal-
lenge is to include other variables in the LCA, such the economic and
social effects of the use of recycled materials in road construction.
Research on LCA of roads has focused on high and medium volume
traffic ones, and most of it has been conducted in North America and
Europe. The road types in developing countries are different: small,
unpaved, and with different economic, social and environmental con-
sequences. Future research should include: roads with low traffic vo-
lumes, use of alternative materials and their application for stabiliza-
tion, specificities for developing countries, and inclusion of economic
and social aspects.
Acknowledgments
One author (Balaguera) would like to thank the Vice Rector of
Research of the University of Medellin for providing the infrastructure
to accomplish this research. She would also like to thank Red Innovial
for providing funding for the data collection missions and Colciencias
for providing the PhD scholarship. Finally, she wishes to thank ESCI-
UPF for hosting her during the 2016–2017 academic year, when this
paper was written.
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of in-
formation contained in this paper as well as for the opinions expressed
therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit
this Organization.
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