Roads do more than link point A to point B. They shape our communities, drive growth, and are essential to human connection. Most people take roads for granted, but they are constantly evolving to meet society’s needs. Today, extreme weather events, increasing traffic, the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), and the push for sustainability are driving the biggest changes to our roads since the Eisenhower administration created the interstate highway system.
A wave of government funding through legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act has ushered in an American Infrastructure Renaissance. But we can’t build the roads of the future through business as usual. From interstates to main streets, our roads need to become more advanced but also safer, more resilient, and more sustainable. To deliver this next-generation infrastructure at scale, our industry must embrace new ways of doing things, innovating in both technology and operating models.
Innovating the roads of the future
Connecting people to each other safely is a road’s primary function. A growing population and heavier vehicles present new challenges to safety and durability. This can be addressed through new asphalt mix designs that improve traction and better stand up to wear and tear. As our weather grows more intense, we can leverage pavement designs, biofiltration systems, and integrated stormwater solutions to capture, retain and treat stormwater and manage debris and pollutants more effectively. These advanced designs will help prevent flooding and more efficiently recharge aquifers.
As it has done in many other sectors, digital technology is also revolutionizing roads. Sensors can generate real-time data that AI and predictive analytics can use to forecast traffic patterns, road conditions, and rates of deterioration. Roads of the future might combine power, communications, and transportation networks into a single, integrated grid. In the future, our highways may charge your EV while you drive; monitor and manage congestion, water and pollution; and reduce collisions.
Mapping a path for sustainable roads
Roads must also be designed and made with circularity and sustainability in mind. Asphalt is 100% recyclable and roads are one of the most recycled products in the world, but there is still more that can be done. Increasing the use of recycled asphalt must remain a priority.
Paving mixes that contain waste plastics, rubber, glass, and other materials are another great way for roads to have a positive environmental impact. For example, Texas Materials, a CRH company, helped pioneer the first large-scale use of a more sustainable asphalt called Super Sand Mix. By incorporating about 18,500 used tires and 2,600 tons (2,300 tonnes) of recycled asphalt shingles to create 60-lane miles (96 kilometers) of pavement, this highly durable mix has a carbon footprint 17% lower than traditional designs and is expected to last twice as long.
We are also piloting the use of asphalt binders made from bio products, therefore reducing reliance on petroleum-based binders. The Shelly Company, a CRH company, partnered with global agricultural giant Cargill to trial a new binder engineered from soybean oil, partially replacing the bitumen used in traditional pavement. The design also used 40% recycled road asphalt, which increases circularity without compromising quality.
Super Sand Mix asphalt being laid in downtown Fort Worth by Texas Materials, A CRH Company
Collaboration, commercialization, and capabilities
These emerging technologies, materials, and processes all underscore the importance of investing in innovation. But innovation alone won’t build the future. It must be supported by collaboration among stakeholders, an ability to commercialize new innovations, and the operating capabilities to do so profitably and at scale. That’s why we launched the Roads of the Future Accelerator program though our venture capital unit, CRH Ventures, to identify and partner with leading startups on their best ideas.
The road industry is interwoven across society. Building a road is a complex process involving public agencies, private companies, end users, and even universities and independent organizations that develop talent and incubate new ideas. Aligning these diverse stakeholders is every bit as important to the building process as producing aggregates and asphalt or paving a road surface.
At CRH, we invest in commercializing the best ideas through a powerful, integrated business model that can deliver next-generation roads for our customers. We integrate aggregate production, liquid terminals, asphalt manufacturing, logistics, paving, recycling operations, services and more. Our leadership position means we have the scale to know what works – circularity, innovative materials, resiliency, safety, and technology. As a result, we can provide our customers with a complete road solution, which is approximately four times more profitable than supplying third-party sales of aggregates alone.
As the largest integrated road builder in North America, CRH is reinventing the way our roads are built and, by extension, how our world will function in the future. We put our customers – public agencies, contractors, developers, and the people who use our roads every day – at the center of everything we do. As society’s infrastructure needs evolve, we’re proud to play a leading role in defining and delivering that evolution.
Learn more about CRH’s US business and capabilities: CRH in the Americas.
