The Development in the use of Porous Asphalts in Europe

Since their first applications, porous asphalts soon showed their great potential as concerns safety and environment issues. Thanks to their water drainage ability, in wet conditions they perform better than traditional hot mix asphalts as regards safety and comfort. Moreover, the high porosity gives them excellent acoustical properties. These factors determined their great success, especially in Europe, and justified the great efforts of research in order to give a solution to the problems arisen in the early applications. In these pages, at first a general short description of the advantages/disadvantages and the history of these asphalts is presented. Afterwards, the main issues related to the durability and effectiveness of these pavements is given as arose since 20 years of use. Various solutions are given based on the European experiences. Finally, the main actual research lines to optimise and to improve the reliability of porous asphalts are outlined