The focus of governments has now changed, says Read, and it might be prudent to revisit what can be achieved by new road surfacing technologies. He highlights surfaces that can have a charge passed through them, causing them to attract PM10 particulates and clear a tunnel of harmful smoke, pollutants or dust more or less instantly.

Particulate matter 10 (PM10) is a major component of air pollution that threatens both our health and our environment. (PM10) pollution consists of very small liquid and solid particles floating in the air. Of greatest concern to public health are the particles small enough to be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lung. These particles are less than 10 microns in diameter – about 1/7th the thickness of a human hair – and are known as PM10.

Read and his team have also looked at surfaces that charge electric vehicles (for more on futuristic vehicles in a tunnel environment, see feature, page 37).

Shell recently announced that it is looking at what road surfaces might involve in the year 2050.  “Global trends suggest that the world will continue to see continued population growth and rapid urbanisation, which as a consequence will see increased traffic volumes on road infrastructure,” said a spokesperson. “At the same time,new, stricter emissions regulations will be implemented and new technologies will be more commonplace to power the world’s vehicles.”

Read added: “We are continually pushing the boundaries of bitumen. Today, from our global R&D centre in Bangalore, we have scientists working at a molecular level to make bitumen have the properties necessary to make more durable, sustainable and energy-efficient roads.”

“Our investments in R&D are set to transform the humble highway into smart surfaces of the future. Some of these innovations will take a decade or more to come to the market, but others are already on-stream. Take Shell Bitufresh, which removes smell from bitumen, rather than simply masking it. This is done by chemically converting the mercaptans, the smell generating compounds within the bitumen, by attaching really heavy molecules from the Bitufresh to the mercaptans, making them incredibly heavy and dense, so that they sink to the bottom of the bitumen, preventing their release,” said Read.

The company has requested tunnelling industry engagement: o.lim@shell.com