The use of marginal materials in road constructions: Proposal of an eco-compatible section

In road constructions, Prescriptions have always imposed the use of precious materials, as high characteristics grounds and aggregates, in order to guarantee the requested efficiency and safety standards of the infrastructure. The increasingly more restrictive measures in mining, which is the consequence of a higher sensibility towards environmental issues, along with the increasing difficulty in finding quarry materials, pushed road technicians towards alternative resources, able to substitute the traditional ones. This study is focused on the possibility to use marginal materials in road constructions, with a look at materials belonging to demolition of civil engineering structures (C&D Construction and Demolition waste and RAP Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement) and at blast furnace slag (EAF-Electric Arc Furnace slag and ladle slag). In particular, the intention is to define the optimal mix design of the mixtures to be used in road embankments, foundations, bases, binder and wearing courses, therefore getting to the design of an eco-compatible superelevated road section, thanks to the contemporaneous presence of C&D in the embankment, of RAP, C&D and ladle slag in the foundation, of EAF slag and ladle slag in the cement mixture of the base layer, of C&D and EAF slag in binder and of EAF slag in the wearing course.