Effect of climate change on asphalt binder selection for road construction in Italy

• Temperature increase may affect the bitumen performances.
• Temperature trends have been investigated over the whole Italian territory.
• We provide a tool for the selection of the asphalt binder even in transient climatic conditions.

This work explores the influence of climate changes on the proper selection of asphalt binder for pavement construction purposes, according to the Performance Grade (PG) defined in the SUPERPAVE specifications. Based on temperature data at national level, it is possible to obtain thematic maps for the whole Italian territory, which is extremely useful for technicians and pavement engineers for selection of asphalt binder for road construction purposes. Furthermore, the statistical significant temperature trends’ knowledge enables deriving thematic maps which allows to include the effects of climate change in the asphalt binder design. It is argued that, due to climate change, the binders to be selected may be different from those commonly selected at the design stage of the infrastructure, since likely higher temperature determine more demanding constraints. The comparison among the PG grades necessary for covering the needs for construction in the different regions of Italy also call for highly performing binders, such as those obtained via specific modification with polymers. This will also imply the need for even more performing materials, in terms of mechanical properties and durability, to be used for modification of neat asphalt as well as the need for defining new specification and testing methods, specifically valid for these modified materials.