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Innovative and Sustainable Pavement Materials and Technologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2026) | Viewed by 2278

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Interests: sustainable pavement materials; sustainable drainage

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Interests: valorization of recycled materials for civil engineering applications; asphalt pavement distress auscultation and self-healing; pavement materials in volcanic environments
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Guest Editor
Department of Construction and Agronomy, University of Salamanca, Zamora, Spain
Interests: sustainable pavement materials; valorization of residues in asphalt mixtures

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Salamanca, Zamora, Spain
Interests: sustainable pavement materials, valorization of residues in asphalt mixtures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During recent years, pavement engineering has been an important area of research due to the vital role of road infrastructures in the social and economic growth of communities. A lot of research has been conducted looking for more durable, economic and environmentally friendly roads by using innovative pavement materials and designs. Additionally, sustainability issues are now top of the agendas in many countries, and most governments, agencies and practitioners are now paying attention to sustainable technologies and solutions, especially in construction works. In this context, the sustainable design and construction of road infrastructures and the development of sustainable pavement materials and technologies have gained attention, not only to reduce the environmental impact of road construction, but also looking for the multifunctional use of the road infrastructure.

This Special Issue addresses the above-mentioned issues and aims to gather recent research works that provide advances in Innovative and Sustainable Pavement Materials and Technologies.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: -Valorization of residues for pavement construction;-Use of industrial by-products in pavement materials;-Innovative and recycled materials for sustainable pavement construction;-Novel pavement design methods; -Sustainable pavement technologies and solutions;-Self-healing of pavement materials;-Recyclable pavement materials and technologies;-Fibers, polymers and nanomaterials in pavement materials;-Polymer-modified pavement materials;-Bio-based materials for pavement design and construction;-Life-Cycle Assessment, durability and characterization of pavement materials and infrastructures. ;We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Valerio Carlos A. Andrés Valeri
Dr. Miguel A. Franesqui
Dr. Diana Movilla-Quesada
Dr. Aitor C. Raposeiras
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pavement materials
  • pavement technologies
  • sustainable pavements
  • asphalt
  • recycled materials

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 1992 KB  
Article
Assessment of CO2 Emissions from Asphalt Pavement Maintenance Using a Life-Cycle Perspective: A Case Study of the Mexicali–San Felipe Highway
by Diego Flores-Ruiz, Marco Montoya-Alcaraz, Leonel García, José Manuel Gutiérrez-Moreno, Carlos Salazar-Briones, Julio Calderón-Ramírez and Alejandro Sánchez-Atondo
Sustainability 2026, 18(9), 4461; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18094461 - 1 May 2026
Viewed by 815
Abstract
Maintaining asphalt pavements requires substantial quantities of materials and energy, which significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in the road infrastructure sector. This study quantified the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions associated with a maintenance and rehabilitation plan for an asphalt [...] Read more.
Maintaining asphalt pavements requires substantial quantities of materials and energy, which significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in the road infrastructure sector. This study quantified the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions associated with a maintenance and rehabilitation plan for an asphalt pavement using a simplified life-cycle perspective integrated with the Highway Development and Management Model (HDM-4). The methodology combined HDM-4 to define a 35-year intervention plan (2022–2057) with CO2e emission factors for three quantified components: material production, transportation, and construction machinery operation. The approach was applied to a 7.8 km section of the Mexicali–San Felipe highway in Baja California, Mexico. The results indicate that the intervention plan generated approximately 2483.9 t CO2e over the 35-year analysis period. Reconstruction was the most carbon-intensive activity, accounting for 1890 t CO2e, while milling and overlay generated 292.15 t CO2e per direction. Material extraction and production were the dominant sources of emissions, contributing about 70% of the total emissions in milling and overlay and 60% in reconstruction; in the latter case, transportation also represented a substantial share (35%) due to long haul distances. These findings show that the proposed approach can identify the most emission-intensive activities and processes within pavement maintenance plans and provide quantitative environmental criteria to support more sustainable road management decisions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Sustainable Pavement Materials and Technologies)
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18 pages, 2137 KB  
Article
Fatigue Analysis of Sustainable Bituminous Pavements with Artificial and Recycled Aggregates
by Evelio Teijón-López-Zuazo, Ángel Vega-Zamanillo, Cristina Calmeiro dos Santos and David Gómez-Carrascal
Sustainability 2026, 18(2), 845; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18020845 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 322
Abstract
The circular economy represents a significant opportunity to enhance the mechanical properties of bituminous mixtures, thereby contributing to sustainable development. This research compares the behaviour of traditional bituminous mixtures with sustainable ones that reuse recycled materials, industrial waste products, or additives that improve [...] Read more.
The circular economy represents a significant opportunity to enhance the mechanical properties of bituminous mixtures, thereby contributing to sustainable development. This research compares the behaviour of traditional bituminous mixtures with sustainable ones that reuse recycled materials, industrial waste products, or additives that improve mechanical or rheological properties. The methodology employed comprised the acquisition of fatigue resistance laws from 4-point bending tests on prismatic specimens. This facilitated the analytical determination of the number of axles of 13 tons that the section of pavement with sustainable material can support for comparison with the axles supported in the conventional mix. The findings corroborate the utilization of sustainable bituminous mixtures in pavement sections, employing the maximum circularity criterion. The fatigue laws calculated must permit the use of different calculation methods or other applications in green infrastructures, such as cycling lanes or pedestrian areas. On sections with an AADT of between 800 and 25 HV/day, all of the analyzed bituminous mixtures with sustainable materials prolong the service life of the road. There were increases in service life of between 25.5% and 6.6%, respectively, which satisfactorily achieved an increase in pavement service life based on the criterion of maximum circularity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Sustainable Pavement Materials and Technologies)
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