Preliminary Findings of the “SMASHit” Project: Towards Sustainable Maintenance of Secondary Road Pavements

The maintenance strategies employed by road authorities with regard to the secondary road network present considerable challenges due to the network’s capillary extension and the associated environmental issues. “SMASHit” is an Italian project of national interest which aims to enhance the sustainability of secondary road pavements. A comprehensive evaluation of the prevailing maintenance strategies was undertaken to define a unified formulation of mixture to be employed in maintenance works with the potential to reduce the use of raw materials. The unified mixture incorporates the utilisation of RAP, steel slags, incinerator ash, bio-rejuvenators and waste plastics. This article presents the preliminary experimental findings, which represent the first milestone of the two-year project.