Basel-Stadt Develops CO2-Negative Road Surface
Published: Tuesday, Aug 8th 2023, 14:40
Aktualisiert am: Freitag, 13. Oktober 2023, 14:12
Zurück zu Live Feed
The Canton of Basel-Stadt has developed a road surface that binds more CO2 than it produces during production. This "green asphalt" is set to be used for the first time in the St. Alban-Vorstadt area. The Basel Building and Transport Department has called this a "milestone for climate-friendly road construction". The responsible government councillor Esther Keller (GLP) expressed pride that this "green asphalt" was developed internally by the Tiefbauamt and the Industrial Works Basel (IWB) in collaboration with the Institute ViaTec Basel AG. The asphalt contains around 50% recycled material and 2-3% plant charcoal. This small amount is enough to store 450 tonnes more CO2-equivalent in the road surface than is produced during production. The plant charcoal is not visible in the road surface, as the top layer remains unchanged. The addition of plant charcoal in the lower support layer of the road surface has the positive effect of providing better protection from ruts caused by heavy trucks or buses. The plant charcoal is obtained from regular tree cuttings from the local area, as well as from discarded Christmas trees. It has already been used by the city gardeners to improve soil quality, and is also widely used in cement production. The cost of a road surface with plant charcoal is slightly higher than a standard surface, due to the more complex mixing process. It takes time for the light plant charcoal to be sufficiently mixed with the much heavier stones and tar.nnnnnn
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic