National Highways talks Good bacteria for healing roads and 3D printed infrastructure

‘Good bacteria’ for healing roads, large scale 3D printed concrete with embedded sensors and innovative thinking as Dr Joanna White of National Highways talks looks to challenge the sector. 

Peter Haddock first met Dr Joanna, who is Roads Development Director National Highways at Highways UK, in 2022 when she outlined the formation of the Road Research Alliance (RRA). And a year later, he caught up with her again in our specially designed studio on the Leica Geosystems stand

In the last 12 months, relationships built between alliance members (see list below) and academics at the University of Cambridge are proving to be very successful, as she explained.

Joanna: “If we are to meet our Net Zero goals, we have to do things differently and look outside our sector for good ideas, sharing innovation and testing new solutions and ways of working. 

"For example, we recently installed a 3D printed headwall on our A30 project with sensors embedded into the overall design. The idea is that we can measure how structural change will happen over time. This includes going through all the seasons.

"The data we collect is fed back to academics at Cambridge University, who can analyse it and then tell us how that structure is performing. We can then discover if the approach works and provide feedback to the alliance members. 

“This will be used to accelerate learning and the development of new methods of construction, not just in Highways but also in the rest of the sector. 

“We have also started research into using good bacteria that could help fix roads in the future, and this is very exciting.”

Peter added: “For me, it is great to see the impact the RRA is already making. I look forward to learning more about the 3D printed sensor trial and will certainly be keeping my eye on ‘good bacteria’, which could be a huge game changer.” 

The RRA is funded by both the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the EU Marie Sklodowska Curie Action, with supply chain partners, also contributing. 

Here is a list of some of the businesses and organisations that are involved: Costain Group, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission Traffic Technology International,  SAP, Balfour Beatty Telent Technology Services Limited Ordnance Survey Versarien plc  Atkins, BAM Construct UK , Ramboll L Lynch Plant Hire & Haulage; Ringway, AECOM, Keltbray Kier Group, Jacobs, Amey,  Bentley Systems and Galliford Try.