Evaluation of sustainability of low-volume roads treated with nontraditional stabilizers

Abstract

Stabilization of unpaved (mostly low volume) roads using non-traditional stabilizers has received attention over the last number of years as various types of these stabilizers are developed and become available. Evaluation of the sustainability of various infrastructure actions, including the provision and maintenance of roads, is becoming more relevant as the effects of actions taken in the natural environment on the natural and human environment are evaluated and understood in more detail. Greenroads offer a method for evaluation of the sustainability of the design, construction and maintenance of roads. It was developed with a focus on surfaced higher volume roads. In this paper, the potential applicability of Greenroads for the evaluation of the sustainability of unsurfaced low volume roads is investigated, based on two case studies of experiments where unpaved low volume test sections were stabilized using various types of traditional and non-traditional material stabilizers. Appropriate parameters were selected from the general Greenroads metric to ensure that those parameters that will affect unpaved low volume roads will be evaluated (e.g. Runoff quality and use of Regional materials) while parameters such as Paving emission reduction were excluded from the analysis. The assumption was made that all the compulsory Project Requirements will be adhered to by each of the options evaluated. It was concluded that the Greenroads metric can be used to evaluate the potential sustainability of unpaved low volume roads stabilized using non-traditional stabilizers, and that the metric provide insight into the potential effect of various parameters on the sustainability of the various stabilization options.