Transport Infrastructure (TI) has a high environmental impact due to its material use, waste production, and CO2 emissions. In particular, "Europe must move towards a 100% renewable transportation system for climate, energy, and sustainability reasons in 2050 and 50% in 2030."
The overall objective of the LIAISON project is to develop a methodology, support tools, and close-to-market technological solutions to transform EU TI into a more sustainable and low-carbon economic activity, implementing four main lines of action: 1) minimizing the consumption of resources, 2) reusing available ones, 3) evolving towards a prosumer infrastructure, and 4) actions to facilitate market uptake by supporting procurement, legislation, and standardization processes. A validation process in real case studies will be carried out, addressing TI managers to include circularity and sustainability dimensions in the procurement, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommission phases.
In order to reach this ambition, the LIAISON methodology will be supported by the development of 1) Industrialized Solutions; 2) Circular Solutions; and 3) Smart Operation and Maintenance Solutions. These solutions will be applicable from a whole life cycle perspective, from the conception and design stage of TI through generative and sustainability performance-based design processes, with special attention to the operation and maintenance stages up to the decommissioning phase. The life cycle approach will be promoted and supported by different software tools to integrate life cycle assessment in public procurement and the EU sustainable finance framework.
The project will investigate smart and sustainable beams, rigid road pavements, and improved ballast; bioasphalts and smart pavement inspection systems; intelligent tunnel control systems and photovoltaic guardrails.
Public purchases could greatly contribute to a transition to a circular economy if circular principles were applied.
LIAISON introduces a sustainability dimension in the carbon-neutral construction, maintenance, operation, and decommissioning of TI, minimizing emissions, reducing the consumption of raw materials and energy from non-renewable sources. This goal is achieved through the implementation of a novel governance framework, evolving to prosumer TI, developing a methodology supported by digital circularity tools to facilitate the achievement of clear economic and environmental KPIs and targets along multiple infrastructure lifecycles, as well as several industrialized, circular, and smart O&M solutions.
