“Even [in the] short run and long run, in both runs it’s cheaper”
A new road: driving on plastic-mixed pavements
ABOUT MY ONE MINUTE DOCUMENTARY
By Leonardo Rosas
In the name of repurposing plastic, civil engineering professor Sahadat Hossain and his
students at the University of Texas at Arlington have for the past several years
developed a way to build roads using plastic.
In a guided tour of their lab underneath Nedderman Hall at UT Arlington, Hossain and
his team demonstrated how their plastic-mixed roads are more durable, cost effective
and environmentally friendly than traditional ones.
“Even [in the] short run and long run, in both runs it’s cheaper,” Hossain said.
At the center of their innovation is a binding mixture of 90% bitumen and 10% plastic.
This innovative binder acts as the glue that holds together all other materials packed
within the pavement.
By incorporating this process in the construction of roads, the carbon footprint of roads
of the same length as non-plastic roads can be reduced by as much as 80%, Hossain
Said.
At UT Arlington, their invention helped repair worn, cracked patches of some of the
school’s parking lots. That was in the summer of 2023. Since then, the plastic-road
surfaces have withstood vehicles driving and parking on plastic.
Roads are meant to be driven, and in Bangladesh, where Hossain is originally from,
he’s paved the way for the country’s capital to build roads using their plastic-bitumen
Mixture.
All in all, Hossain and his team’s success has drawn attention from cities like Dallas and
Farmers Branch. They’ve also been in talks with the Dallas-Fort Worth International
Airport about the implementation of ‘plastic roads’, Hossain said.
Meet Leonardo Rosas
Leonardo Rosas is a senior at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he is pursuing a degree in journalism with a minor in economics.
Recently, he was a reporting intern at the Dallas Business Journal through the Dow Jones News Fund summer internship program. He now freelances for DBJ, contributing weekly.
He has also reported for UT Arlington’s student newspaper, The Shorthorn, and the Brookhaven Courier, the campus newspaper at Dallas College’s Brookhaven campus, where he previously studied. His work has been recognized by the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.
Leonardo is focused on honing his skills as a journalist and gaining deeper insights into the Dallas-Fort Worth business community.
About AMA+UTA CreateCollab
Throughout the Fall 2024 semester, the Arlington Museum of Art is partnering with The University of Texas at Arlington and a senior-level digital storytelling class to explore a wide variety of contemporary themes inspired by the museum’s mission, values, and exhibitions.
Class projects include photo essays, one-minute documentaries, and one-minute podcasts about themes as broad as creating detailed flower arrangements, a life saving cat cafe, everyday heroes, and environmental art.
Associate Professor of Communication Erika Pribanic-Smith, who teaches the class, values opportunities to bring real-world experiences to her students.
“My goal is to give my students real-world experience in all of my classes, creating real stories using real sources,” said Dr. Pribanic-Smith. “Creating stories that will be published for the public to see, not just submitted for a grade, gives students extra incentive to put forth their best effort. Furthermore, working with professionals gives the students another layer of feedback to reinforce what they’re learning in the classroom. I prefer to work with organizations like the Arlington Museum of Art who will benefit in some way from the students’ content so that we are providing a service to the community.”
