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

  • Netherlands speed reduction for highways
    November 18, 2019
    The Dutch Government has announced plans to reduce the speed limits on its highways during daytime. The limits will be lowered from 130km/h at present to 100km/h, as part of a plan to improve road safety. Although the Netherlands has a very good record on road safety overall, there was an increase in road deaths in 2018. This is a cause for concern as road deaths in 2018 were the highest for 10 years. The Dutch Government has cut down on enforcement of road traffic laws, which is thought to be one factor in
    Read More
  • From managed asset to service provider: the future highway
    May 20, 2019
    Every day we hear about Mobility as a Service (MaaS), but what about Roads as a Service? Geoff Hadwick reports from the ERF in Brussels The familiar physical asset called the road will increasingly be seen as part of an emerging global services sector. Given that, the role of the road is changing, notes Christophe Nicodème, general director of the European Union Road Federation (ERF). We need to think much more carefully about planning highway infrastructure in terms of people’s needs, said Nicodème,
    Read More
  • Steinexpo2017: German earthmoving equipment sales on firm ground
    September 1, 2017
    Earthmoving sales in Germany this year could top 30,000, according to Joachim Schmid, managing director of VDMA - Construction Equipment and Building Materials Machinery Association. Orders are also up 14% on that of 2016, said Schmid who was speaking during this week’s Steinexpo2017 demonstration trade fair near the central German city of Homberg. The event is held in the Nieder-Ofleiden basalt quarry – the largest such quarry in Europe.
    Read More
  • Groundbreaking calculator of greenhouse gas emissions
    February 9, 2012
    Time for CHANGER IRF launches CHANGER, a groundbreaking calculator of greenhouse gas emissions from road construction. Our world is changing, our climate is changing.
    Read More

Highlighted Content