Plastic Roads

While I'm all in favor of plastics displacing traditional materials in most applications, I have some serious doubts about this one - a Dutch company, VolkerWessels, wants to replace traditional asphalt and concrete roads with plastic. And not just with a layer of plastic, but a construct that has a hollow inside so that pipes and other utilities can be run through it. Take a look at this concept drawing:

My immediate thoughts were how much this looks just like another picture that I recently discussed:

This is a cross-section of the infamous Morrison Bridge that was recently installed in Portland Oregon and has begun to fail very quickly.

Similarity in shape doesn't mean similarity in failure, but the article does little to allay my fears.

"VolkerWessels, is collaborating with the city of Rotterdam to start prototyping plastic-built roads in a �street lab� provided by the city...The idea is to recycle plastic from oceans into a tough aggregate that could be poured and molded into pre-fabricated �bricks� and installed on site quickly." (Emphasis added)

Ocean Plastic?!? Don't they know that nobody has an effective means to recover ocean plastic, certainly not on the scale that would be needed to make a road of any decent length? But since we are in the pre-prototype stage, you can dream all you want. Or at least until "the rubber meets the road" (sorry, couldn't resist) and the surfaces are tested. Somehow I think there will be lots of failures setbacks "learnings".

"VolkerWessels�...has years, even decades, of research and development ahead of it, if it survives."

Quite the understatement if you ask me.

Previous Years

July 15, 2014 - An Unlikely Combination: Thiol-Ene Chemistry and Isocyanate-Free Polyurethanes

July 15, 2013 - Closing the Door after the Horse has Gone Tilting at Windmills

July 15, 2011 - A New Polymer Blog

July 15, 2010 - Blow Molding on a Small Scale