Roads of the Future: How Innovation and Technology Are Shaping Road Construction

America’s Highway System is the backbone of its economy. But as the nation grapples with aging infrastructure, a growing population, recurring extreme weather events and rising transportation demands, its roads and bridges are facing unprecedented stress. The real challenge? We treat road maintenance like a game of whack-a-pothole: reactive and inefficient.

Rethinking how we build and maintain our roads has the potential to save billions in avoidable costs and delays. This realization is driving the industry to innovate by expanding and modernizing road infrastructure to build a highway system fit for America’s future. Luckily, this transformation is being driven by automation, material science and circularity.

Jason Jackson, President of CRH’s Americas Materials division, explains how technology, innovation and the need for greater resilience is changing how we approach road construction for the better.

Automation and Technology Lead the Way

Technology plays a central role in developing more resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding higher usage and stress. Automation in particular is showing great promise in road paving by creating efficiencies, improving safety measures and encouraging more data-driven decision-making.

By leveraging plant automation for asphalt production, we get real-time analysis of burner fuel flow and temperature, and that data drives greater precision and predictability – for example – improving the mix quality while reducing energy consumption. These are systemic upgrades that are helping us to redefine even higher standards of excellence.

At job sites, we are also seeing increased use of Intelligent Compaction (IC) technologies such as rollers equipped with GPS and accelerometers that provide real-time data on compaction quality. This allows operators to make immediate adjustments and improve pavement density, as well as optimize material usage and reduce waste. These improvements also contribute to increased pavement smoothness, ultimately providing motorists with a better driving experience.

Material Science Drives Greater Resilience

But change isn’t just about leveraging technology. Designers, technicians and engineers are hard at work in the lab too. To ensure resiliency amid weather events, increased traffic volume and heavier traffic, they are advancing balanced mix design and innovating to develop materials that improve durability, flexibility and overall performance. At CRH, examples of this innovation include:

• Warm Mix Asphalt: As the use of Warm Mix Asphalt continues to grow, we are gaining more economic benefits with less burner fuel and extended pavement life.
• Rejuvenators: We routinely use bio-based rejuvenators (or recycling agents) and bio-binders because they improve durability by balancing the portions of asphalt impacted by wear and tear and enhance its performance over time.
• Fibers: We are innovating with fibers – synthetic and natural – to distribute stress more evenly throughout the asphalt mix, helping to reduce fatigue cracking under heavy traffic loads. Some fiber-reinforced mixes require less pavement thickness and yet can still achieve the same strength as thicker, traditional asphalt layers, offering more efficient material use and long-term cost savings.

Although these material innovations have been recognized for their environmental credentials, their adoption is driven by high standards of asphalt performance and the need for greater durability and resilience. Ultimately, the benefits of balanced mix design will further open the door for the use of non-traditional materials in the future.

Circularity: Better Roads with Less

Innovation is also playing a critical role in our ability to reuse, repair, refurbish and recycle materials and products, to deliver road infrastructure that’s built with less. Although Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) isn’t new, technology is certainly enabling the industry to increase the quantities of RAP content, without compromising quality or performance. And it’s not just asphalt that’s getting a second life. Waste material, industrial by-products, and different types of plastics are also proving successful in their ability to be reused, recycled or repurposed for road construction as fuel sources, binder or materials.

Circular strategies are fast becoming a performance imperative. Texas Materials, A CRH Company, recently developed a Super Sand Mix, which replaced over 42% of virgin binder with recycled materials from tires and shingles. The result? Enhanced durability, skid resistance and noise reduction.

The Future: Roads That Think, Adapt and Endure

The roads of our future won’t only connect cities - they’ll communicate, charge and adapt. Smart pavements could harvest energy from passing vehicles, alert drivers to hazards and even charge vehicles as they drive.

But to get there, we need to envision roads as dynamic systems. This will require a significant shift in how our industry approaches material supply, installation and maintenance.

At a minimum, we must find ways to update specifications and standards that prioritize performance-based testing and support greater innovation in material science and mix design. If we want roads that last longer, cost less and serve more, we must invest in performance-first roads across their entire lifecycle. As we look to the future, this is what will deliver greater value to our communities, taxpayers and drivers and build roads that will stand the test of time.