Eurovia meets the 100% RAP “Recyclee” challenge on a French motorway

Eurovia says that it has successfully paved a 1km stretch of a French motorway using 100% recycled asphalt pavement – a global first for RAP. Eurovia said that the “fully recycled road”, done in conjunction with its parent company VINCI Autoroutes, is part of a major motorway renovation project on the A10 between Pons and Saint-Aubin in southwest France. The road is the result of two years of research and a partnership with asphalt plant equipment maker Marini-Ermont of the Fayat group. Marini-Ermont
October 25, 2018 Read time: 3 mins
Not a virgin in sight: Marini-Ermont created the TRX100% mobile continuous asphalt plant to use 100% RAP

3281 Eurovia says that it has successfully paved a 1km stretch of a French motorway using 100% recycled asphalt pavement – a global first for RAP.

Eurovia said that the “fully recycled road”, done in conjunction with its parent company 6531 VINCI Autoroutes, is part of a major motorway renovation project on the A10 between Pons and Saint-Aubin in southwest France.

The road is the result of two years of research and a partnership with asphalt plant equipment maker Marini-Ermont of the 2779 Fayat group. Marini-Ermont created the TRX100% mobile continuous asphalt plant that can handle up to 100% of asphalt aggregates that originate at nearby road maintenance sites.

Other partners include the government of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region and PACA Laboratories.

This development represents significant progress compared with the current recycling rates of 50-60%, Eurovia said in a written statement.

The bulk of the supply can be sourced from milling material produced by the site. This would partly or fully protect natural  resources and keep transport logistics to a minimum. It also would cut up 50% the site’s carbon footprint, Eurovia claimed.

VINCI Autoroutes, which operates nearly 4,500km of French motorways, is part of the French global infrastructure company VINCI. The project to use 100% RAP is one of four similarly environmentally based projects that together make up the “Route du futur” scheme launched by ADEME, France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency.

Routes du future is, in turn, part of the Investing for the Future Programme to promote the development of innovative and ambitious industrial solutions to reduce the environmental impact of road infrastructure and support the energy transition in the road industry.

The three other Routes du future project are NOVATHERM, I-Street and REGIC.


The NOVATHERM project, being coordinated by Eurovia, includes working with the governments of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle Aquitaine and the Ile-de-France regions. The object is to harness the solar-induced energy of a road and channel it into geothermal or biomass energy for use in nearby towns, be it for street lighting or electricity for shops and factories or social housing heating.

Part of the NOVATHERM work is to explore the extraction of heat during the hot summer months and during winter using the technology to reverse the energy flow to heat the pavement to reduce the risk of ice and to melt snow.

I-STREET is a project coordinated by EIFFAGE and done by TOTAL, French research group IFSTTAR using its fatigue carousel in Nantes and pigment producer PME OLIKROM. The goal is to develop more wear-resistant coatings for asphalt.

The use of “intelligent geo-synthetic reinforcements” – project REGIC – is to inhibit the creation of cavities in pavement. The work is being done by engineering textile manufacturer Texinov in conjunction with Ineris (Institut national de l'environnement industriel et des risques) and the laboratory 3SR (Sols, Solides, Structures, Risques).

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Beton bets on Amman’s CBS 120 SL Elba Concrete Mixing Plant
    May 15, 2019
    Ammann has assembled a plant that it says is highly competitive on price and performance for its customer Thomas Beton, a concrete supplier near Hamburg. Thomas Beton is among the leading producers of high-quality ready-mix concrete in northern Germany with daily deliveries to infrastructure sites as well as residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural projects. The new Ammann plant – the ninth Ammann-Elba solution for Beton – means that Beton is strengthening its local physical proximity to cu
    Read More
  • Marini mobile asphalt plant XPRESS 2500 P at Reykjavik Airport
    May 17, 2017
    Iceland, being a volcanic island and still active, must import aggregates and bitumen for road construction. The island’s 104,000km² and its 333,000 inhabitants are susceptible to daily seismic activity of some kind. However, airline passengers, either visiting the country as tourist or in transit, are increasing by around 20% per year so good airport services are essential. As such, Colas is resurfacing the main runway and constructing a third strip and contracting other road works. The highway network i
    Read More
  • Superior gets into the Spirit at Hillhead
    November 6, 2018
    US-based Superior Industries says its new modular Spirit Sand Plant – shown at this year’s Hillhead exhibition in the UK - boosts performance while lowering wear The Spirit merges the manufacturer’s Helix Cyclone, Dewatering Screen, sump tank and slurry pump into a single plant capable of sand production, fines recovery and dewatering. It has a more geometrically efficient inlet to boost performance and lower wear to internal components. In addition, all wetted surfaces are lined with cast polyurethane f
    Read More
  • Legal tangle between French firms for road contract
    November 28, 2013
    A consortium comprising Vinci-Bouyges has a contract worth some US$1.63 billion for construction of a new coastal road in La Réunion. However the French firm Eiffage TP is contesting the deal and claims that the project cannot be carried by two major firms that have joined together to carry out the work. According to Eiffage TP, a consortium must be justified for either economic or technical reasons. The project is going ahead despite opposition from the National Council for the Protection of Nature (CNPN).
    Read More

Highlighted Content