Future roads could be built using asphalt made from grass cuttings and ‘carbon capturing’ cement, supported by £30 million government funding awarded to seven net zero projects.

The projects, spread across the UK, (specifically, England) from Lanarkshire to Devon, have been awarded funding through the Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads competition.

The programme supports projects led by local highways authorities focused on tackling the long-term decarbonisation of highway infrastructure, such as streetlights, and transforming local authorities’ approach to decarbonising roads.

The winning projects include cutting carbon emissions from streetlights to producing asphalt made from green waste like grass cuttings. Other projects plan to drive changes to the design, construction and maintenance of typical UK highway construction, as well as plans to develop a system approach to creating a net carbon negative model for green infrastructure delivery.

Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “The UK is a world leader in technology and innovation and we must use that strength to drive decarbonisation and the next generation of high tech jobs that go alongside it.

“We are supporting this vital agenda to help level-up through £30 million funding for ground-breaking projects and boosting regional connections to support growth.

“The government is determined to create good, well paid jobs – via innovation and investment across the UK – as we accelerate the road to net zero.”

The 7 successful local highways authorities and their partners will be provided funding, subject to due diligence, to develop, test, pilot and roll out new technologies to facilitate decarbonisation, including in supply chain emissions.

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Mark Kemp, President of ADEPT, said: “Tackling the carbon impact of our highways’ infrastructure is critical to our path to net zero but hard to address, so I am pleased that bidding was so competitive.

“Live Labs 2 has a huge ambition – to fundamentally change how we embed decarbonisation into our decision-making and to share our learning with the wider sector to enable behaviour change. Each project will bring local authority led innovation and a collaborative approach to create a long-lasting transformation of business as usual.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn from our successful bidders and taking that into my own organisation.”

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