LowEmissionAsphalt-136pg-WhitePaper-May2023

P a g e | 64 Under the Challenge , applying SDOTs already have received up to $500,000 to accelerate their internal efforts in developing protocols for implementing EPDs in state pavement projects. Throughout the balance of 2022 and 2023, SDOTs are to launch 80-20 FHWA matching projects utilizing EPDs. By 2024, the states are to have completed these trial projects ( “ showcases ” ) and be ready to work with the FHWA on full implementation timeframes . The paving industry needs to get out in front of this. As practitioners, we are the experts. Are we really going to let politicians, academics, and activists decide this? EPDs will no longer just be a way to differentiate products and procedures in pavement construction and maintenance soon, they will be rolled-out as mandatory starting at the SDOT level. Many local agencies follow their state DOT guidelines. In our own discussions with FHWA, EPD consultancies, and industry consortia, the issues with reducing so-called embodied carbon in paving materials is of high concern. Such statutory reductions will be hard to come by as they will impact performance and even safety. Require extensive testing. Delay potential impact. A push to expand EPDs to include post construction use phase technologies is well underway. A FHWA materials team leader expressed, at a recent industry research conference, that broader use phase options will “count.” They are going to have to… As outlined, there likely will not be emissions opportunities in raw materials, mix design, processing, and paving to move-the-needle in overall emission loads from paving as the environmental impacts from the roadway microenvironment (ME) are not limited to the materials and the paving process. NAPA’s The Road Forward 120 primer addressed the limitations of embodied carbon reductions: “To achieve net zero in the production of asphalt mixtures, carbon offsets will be necessary.” 120 NAPA: The Road Forward, A Vision for Net Zero Emissions for the Asphalt Pavement Industry , www.asphaltpavement.org/climate .