Introducing the circular economy in road construction

A circular economy aims to reduce or prevent waste. Instead of a single lifetime loop, it assumes that resources should be part of a closed system of subsequent loops, where the output of one loop is the input of a next loop. Currently, there is a growing political and societal pressure to reduce the use of scarce raw materials and resources and to prevent creating waste. The road construction industry is infamous for its' major use of energy resources and materials, and, under the above mentioned societal pressure, strongly challenged to become circular. But, how to design and realize a circular road for multiple material lifecycles? The paper discusses this question by confronting theory with the results of a planned major road project, InnovA58 in The Netherlands. Experience of InnovA58 is presented with the aim of raising a further debate about circular design and the transition to a circular economy in the construction industry.