Highways England has partnered with the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) to help revolutionise road infrastructure in the UK
This new collaboration will look to address some of the many challenges experienced by road infrastructure in the UK, such as the deterioration of road and pavement surfaces.
Highways England is seeking to improve the experience of those who use and operate the road network. Adding graphene into maintenance and renewals operations has the potential to extend asset life and make the network perform at an industry changing level.
This partnership is looking to explore the operational and road user benefit of incorporating graphene into assets such as road surfacing and road markings as well as help to drive the development of a low carbon and digital road network. The potential improvements could result in stronger, long-lasting materials for road infrastructure in the UK.
James Baker, CEO Graphene@Manchester, said: “This latest partnership is a brilliant example of how graphene can be used to tackle problems faced by most people every day.
“This is further enabled by the facilities and capabilities we can provide to our industry partners, that accelerates the many small improvements that ultimately create an optimised product.”
Paul Doney, innovation director at Highways England added: “We are really excited about the opportunity to explore leading-edge materials and what this might lead to for our road network.
“GEIC is at the forefront, having made the discovery here in Manchester, and by building a collaboration with our operations teams who understand the challenges, we are looking to deliver improved safety and performance of our roads.”
