Sustainability factors in pavement materials, design, and preservation strategies: A literature review

As sustainability is a system characteristic that encompasses economic, environmental, and social dimensions, pavement sustainability is necessarily one of the highest-level considerations for a transportation infrastructure system and not just an added feature. This paper reviews the sustainability prospects of pavements, in regard to materials, design, and preservation strategies looking closely at the international experience and practice. Specifically, a wide range of options and alternatives with an emphasis on mechanical properties, concerning sustainable pavement materials, is presented. As for pavement design, a detailed description of structural requirements and key features, in terms of sustainability, is given, while innovative design options and cross sections of fundamental types of pavements, capable of integrating significant amounts of sustainable materials are presented. Additionally, the importance of preservation, in respect of pavement sustainability, is highlighted and the impact of the use-phase as well as the aims of sustainable preservation strategies are described, including also a full overview of preservation and rehabilitation treatments. In conclusion, considering the relative sources and cited literature, there is broadly a great potential for sustainable options and solutions, which can be effectively materialized. Nevertheless, further investigation field and adoption of sustainability standards are potentially promising considerations, from the perspective of future improvement. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.