Background noise is a great nuisance for many. For this reason, materials such as RARx are of increasing interest to companies and infrastructure financing bodies.
This material reduces road noise by 10%, bringing it close to the healthy noise level proposed by the WHO for good health and well-being.
The use of this material has been included in the Silent Rubber Pave project, financed by Horizon 2020, with the aim of reducing noise pollution caused by cars rolling on asphalt. Cirtec, a Sacyr Green company, and Consulpav participate in this project.
Cirtec markets RARx, made from end-of-life tire dust from the Chiloeches tire recovery plant, also belonging to Sacyr Green, which favors the circular economy in our group.
RARx takes advantage of the sound-absorbing properties of rubber, allowing it to reduce the stiffness coefficient of asphalt, thus reducing the vibration caused by the passage of vehicles on the pavement. RARx also extends the life cycle of roads, which means that less maintenance is required, thus reducing costs during their useful life.
RARx (manufactured in Spain and with a new plant in Mexico) is used on roads in Spain, other European countries and Latin America, with Mexico being the main market.
"We would need regulatory changes that favor business growth. Environmental criteria should have greater relevance in the specifications for concessions and works, not only during construction, but also throughout the useful life of the infrastructure, something that is already being done in some European countries.
Studies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) should be taken into greater consideration in order to improve the environmental quality of our roads," explains Guillermo Rodriguez Marfil, Cirtec technician and Sacyr Green engineer.
In Spain, the Sacyr Group has applied RARx on the A-32 (Linares-Albacete highway) on a section between Villacarrillo (Jaén) and Villanueva del Arzobispo (Jaén), on a section that opened in December 2022.
The company will build a new section of the Pirámides - Tulancingo highway in conjunction with Sacyr Construcción.
