Building Green Roadways

The Illinois Tollway’s “Building Green” efforts minimize the environmental impact of new roadway construction by reducing, recycling and reusing materials.

Supported by the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association’s Green Council

All existing concrete pavement crushed on site and reused as base stone under new roadways. Recycling the existing road materials not only saved the cost of purchasing new materials for the roadway beds, but also eliminated the cost of hauling the old materials from the work site and disposal in landfills.

• 3.2 million tons of concrete recycled, which is enough concrete to build 4,000 miles of sidewalk, which would equal the distance from Chicago, IL to San Diego, CA and back.
• Up to 90 percent of each new roadway base consists of recycled concrete

All shoulder and roadway surface asphalt removed and either reused as a capping material supporting steel rebar on top of the new stone base of new roads or recycled.

• Nearly 1.8 million tons of asphalt was recycled, enough to fill Soldier Field from top to bottom.

• Recycling saved nearly 4 million barrels of liquid asphalt

Several reclaimed materials including Ground Tire Rubber, Recycled Asphalt Shingles and Fractionated Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (FRAP) were used reducing the need for virgin asphalt materials and utilizing scrap materials that would otherwise be headed for the landfill.

• More than 228,000 scrap tires were used in some asphalt pavement mixes to provide better durability, quieter noise levels and better friction values.
• Old asphalt shingles containing 20-36 percent asphalt were used in new asphalt shoulder pavements, reducing the need for virgin asphalt materials.
• Using fractionated reclaimed asphalt in new asphalt mixes allowed a higher percentage of recycled materials in the new pavement without producing a lesser product. New asphalt pavements used as much as 30 percent FRAP.

Ultra Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel was required for all construction equipment over 50 HP used on Tollway projects.

• Ultra Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel contains a maximum of 15 parts per million of sulfur, lower than Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel which contains a maximum of 500 parts per million of sulfur which is a 97 percent reduction.
• Ultra Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel creates less pollution by reducing diesel particulate matter emissions into the air.

Find more information on the Building Green Fact Sheet...