The earthworks associated with the construction of a National Road project can be significant in terms of the sustainability of the scheme. Appropriate consideration of earthworks at the early stage of design and planning, particularly at the option selection, preliminary design, and environmental impact assessment phases of a project, is necessary to achieve objectives such as waste minimisation, optimal material re-use, re-use of materials at their highest value, and minimisation of construction-stage carbon emissions. These early stages present opportunities for designers to optimise the scheme design at the stage at which it is most flexible and sustainability and circular economy objectives can be achieved most easily, rather than requiring reactive, and potentially more costly and less sustainable solutions, at subsequent design phases. However, the early-stage consideration of earthworks needs to be commensurate with the level of detail of the scheme design at this stage, and the geotechnical information available. There is therefore a need for earthworks analysis tools which can be practically applied on projects, with regard to the number of options which may require to be assessed, and the relatively limited site-specific ground information which may be available. This paper outlines the development of spreadsheet-based tools which can be used to undertake material analysis, mass haul assessments, and haulage analysis, while taking consideration of haulage constraints, material sources, and deposition areas. Appropriate application of these tools can make a key contribution to achieving the above sustainability and circular economy objectives. The paper will also describe possible approaches to ground investigations and collation of geotechnical information at the early stages of road projects.
Sustainability Considerations in the Design of Earthworks for Road Projects
Lect.Notes Mobility
Transport Research Arena Conference ; 2024 ; Dublin, Ireland April 15, 2024 - April 18, 2024
Transport Transitions: Advancing Sustainable and Inclusive Mobility ; Chapter : 116 ; 831-837
2025-07-19
7 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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