VIALOW Zero, supplied by CEMEX's Liverpool Docklands asphalt plant, was selected by the Council for Lark Lane, Liverpool. A vibrant hub on the edge of the city's historic Sefton Park, Lark Lane is home to many popular local boutiques, bars and restaurants. With combined high-density pedestrian footfall and road user traffic, a continuous stream of round-the-clock access is required on Lark Lane, with businesses facing directly onto the busy street.
Working with Dowhigh Contractors, using warm asphalt (VIALOW) reduced CO2e. It lowered the impact of construction fumes during the re-surfacing, creating a better environment for local residents and pedestrians and Dowhigh's contractor workforce throughout the project.
Liverpool County Council also reduced the total time needed for traffic restrictions and road closure, with VIALOW as the asphalt reaches the appropriate trafficking temperatures faster than conventional hot mix asphalt. The re-opening of Lark Lane was fast-tracked as a result, minimising the overall disruption to the immediate local community and busy road users, as well as car fumes from stationary queuing cars.
Alongside the reduced carbon in the mix, Liverpool County Council chose to offset the residual CO2e to make it a CarbonNeutral product, following The CarbonNeutral Protocol. By offsetting the residual CO2e from the 284 tonnes of asphalt used for the project, 16 tonnes of CO2e was offset, the equivalent of the emissions generated by the annual electricity use for 24 homes on Lark Lane for a year.
VIALOW is a range of low-temperature, low-carbon asphalts from CEMEX. A specially formulated bitumen additive is used to enable manufacture at up to 40°C lower than standard asphalt mixes with no compromise in performance and the added benefit of achieving up to 20% reduction in embodied carbon emissions.
Allan Jones, head of business and strategy, Dowhigh said: "The Lark Lane project was successfully completed with CEMEX, using VIALOW, which helped us save 16 tonnes of carbon. This project will hopefully be the beginning of a determined move to make our roads greener and more sustainable for the future."
Pete Hoare, CEMEX's asphalt area manager, added: "We want to make it easier for local authorities and councils to specify lower carbon solutions. As a result, we worked closely with Liverpool County Council to provide a hardworking solution that not only reduced CO2e but also the impact on the local community environment as well."
"Stationary vehicles at traffic lights on road closures can create four times as many pollutants when compared to moving vehicles, so it's really important that we help to minimise traffic restrictions and the resulting car fumes whilst roads are being maintained and repaired. Vialow is the optimum asphalt solution to increase overall productivity in restricted areas whilst significantly saving CO2e to drive forward the government's low-carbon economy by 2050."
VIALOW belongs to the Vertua family of sustainable building materials now offered by CEMEX as part of its commitment to enhancing the environmental credentials of its operations. This product group also includes low-carbon concrete and admixtures offerings.
