Sustainability Analysis Based on Emissions Saving for Competitive Maintenance and Rehabilitation Practices

Abstract

Although roads are preponderant in terms of extension and usage, airports and air transport entail a prominent part of emissions and energy consumption worldwide. There is a need for improving airport pavements construction and maintenance practices in order to limit greenhouse gasses and set environmental standards towards the development of more “sustainable airports.” Since environmental impact assessment of major projects is becoming mandatory in many countries, various researches are attempting to evaluate environmental impacts of different pavement materials, technologies or processes over the airport service life. There is a need to measure and describe different aspects of airport pavements sustainability to support these efforts. This paper analyzes emissions saved in reusing and valorizing existing in situ soils through a cement stabilization for improving the bearing capacity of the runway cleared and graded area and/or constructing new sub-base pavement layers. The analysis evaluates emissions due to equipment and materials comparing them with the supplying of large amounts of aggregates from nearby quarries to build granular layers. A case study of a major Italian airport is finally provided. Results show the eco-efficiency of improving pavement management practices adopting energy efficient treatments on airports. Furthermore, eco-saving factors could represent a new and innovative feature to be added in process of evaluating different strategies and investments in an Airport Pavement Management System.