Adapt or ....?-A road pavement engineering epiphany:acknowledge problems and accept scientifically based disruptive technologies

Abstract

Providing climate-resistant road infrastructure is a prerequisite for the development and economic growth of developing regions of the world. The unit costs of providing basic road infrastructure in these areas are currently unacceptably high – to such an extent that the available funds will never be able to address the current backlog in road network provision, maintenance and rehabilitation. Nano-scale silica-based technologies have been used in the built environment for over two centuries to protect buildings, monuments and statues. The same technologies can be used to improve naturally available granular materials for use in road load-bearing layers. Experience has shown that such practices could have a positive impact, while substantially reducing the unit costs of the provision of road infrastructure. This can be achieved without affecting the quality of the end product and improving the durability, resulting in more climate-resilient road infrastructure. The implementation of these technologies depends on understanding the fundamental challenges facing pavement engineers in practice and the basic concepts and impact that nano-scale silica-based technologies can have on addressing these challenges. This paper aims to identify these challenges and how these technologies can effectively address them to provide cost-effective, long-lasting, low-maintenance road infrastructure while facing imbedded resistance to change.