On the road to more sustainable road maintenance with the Asphalt Recycling Train
From 17 to 22 March 2025, the Week of the Circular Economy highlights how pioneers, businesses and public authorities are working to reduce resource use and minimise waste.
Rijkswaterstaat is working together with other authorities and market parties aboard the Asphalt Recycling Train (ART), heading towards a future of cleaner and more sustainable road maintenance. So where are we now, and where are we headed?
What does the ART do?
The ART renews the worn surface layer of asphalt roads. It loosens the top layer, heats the old asphalt, absorbs the molten material, stirs and mixes it, and then reapplies the renewed asphalt. The surface is then compacted to create a smooth and even road surface.
What are the benefits?
- Old asphalt is renewed on site. This eliminates the need for trucks to transport old and new materials, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions.
- This method of road maintenance is nearly fully circular, as all material is reused.
Where are we now?
Fredy Sierra-Fernandez is responsible for the development of the ART. Sierra-Fernandez: ‘With the ART, we can resurface roads in a far more sustainable way. Right now, we’re testing a single machine to see what it delivers in practice.’
‘For example, we want to understand how long the resurfaced top layer remains in good condition. We do this through test sections where the ART is deployed. Since June 2024, traffic has been using a test section on a provincial road in Gelderland, and since October one in the municipality of Heerlen.’
‘In October, the ART also resurfaced a section of porous asphalt concrete (ZOAB) on the A2 motorway. The surface in Gelderland is still in good shape. The ZOAB layer on the A2 is slightly less perfect, but if this wasn’t a test section, we wouldn’t even be looking at it yet. We’re still in a testing phase, learning from what we find and improving as we go. And we’ll continue doing that until we’re 100% satisfied.’
Where do we want to go?
‘If we really want to make a difference, we need more machines,’ says Sierra-Fernandez. ‘But to justify that, we also need more certainty about their added value. An ART isn’t cheap. In April and May 2025, the ART will resurface the standard asphalt layer in test sections in the municipalities of Almere and Oss. And hopefully before summer, we’ll deploy it for ZOAB on national roads in the West Netherlands South and North regions.’
Sierra-Fernandez is optimistic. He sees fellow public authorities offering test sections and market players working together to deploy the machine. ‘If the results remain as positive as they are now, the manufacturer may be encouraged to produce more machines. And if we have 3 or 4 machines operating by 2030, we’ll be able to do so much more — that would make me very happy.’
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