Wattway
Photovoltaic road surfacing
Wattway is a patented French innovation, the fruit of five years of research by Colas and INES, France’s national institute for solar energy. It is the world’s first photovoltaic road surfacing solution that generates electricity from clean and renewable solar energy, while providing a safe surface for all vehicular traffic.
Since the launch of this solar road solution, about 50 pilot projects around the world have demonstrated Wattway’s robustness. These projects vary in size, and have been developed to test multiple uses:
- Powering street lights and urban equipment (in Mainland France and the United Kingdom)
- Powering electric vehicle charging points
- Generating additional energy for buildings (in France, Reunion Island, Canada, the United States, Japan and Luxembourg)
- Supplying energy to local power grids (in France and the Netherlands)
These experiments under real and highly varied conditions have resulted in further improvements in performance and resilience for the solution. In 2019, Colas began marketing Wattway Pack, a turnkey solution that allows roadside equipment to function autonomously.
Vegecol
Low carbon mix
Vegecol is a mix produced using a plant-based binder. The translucent properties of this binder allows the natural color of the aggregates to appear without the need for surface treatment. This makes it an ideal solution for visually appealing surfacing, mainly for use in car-free areas (such as footpaths and bike paths). Vegecol seamlessly integrates into its surroundings and helps enhance the appeal of places like town squares, historic sites, pedestrian zones and Natura 2000-designated areas.
The Vegecol binder has 4-star OK Biobased certification, meaning it has a biobased carbon content greater than 80%. The binder used to make Vegecol asphalt is consistent with a carbon emissions reduction strategy thanks to its ability to store CO2.
Qievo
Regulation of logistics flows in urban areas
Urban construction sites have a bad image: they’re everywhere, disruptive, noisy and seem to go on forever. With its core business being road construction, Colas is confronted on a daily basis with acceptability issues with regard to its worksites. Poorly organized, uncontrolled logistics flows linked to construction sites cause disturbances and often interfere with urban traffic. To meet the expectations of users and local authorities, Mobility by Colas has developed Qievo, a digital service optimizing mobility around construction sites in densely populated urban areas.
Objectives of Qievo:
- Facilitate mobility around construction sites by managing the logistical flow of operations
- Limit disturbances for users by guiding trucks to follow specific routes and reducing traffic congestion
- Offer an efficient, reliable scheduling system for site operations to manage their deliveries and the use of hoisting equipment on-site
- Give organizing authorities an effective management tool and provide additional information to local traffic control centers
Reguly : Territorial breakdown of the Qievo offer for Lyon Part-Dieu
Reguly is a digital service for optimizing logistics flows around construction sites in the Lyon Part-Dieu district, led by Mobility by Colas on behalf of the Lyon Part-Dieu local development corporation. This solution is being used to help the district remain attractive and ensure smooth day-to-day operations, with around 50 major projects are underway until 2024. Reguly helps regulate truck traffic at construction sites throughout the district, which is managed by a central control station. Traffic control zones have also been set up on the outskirts of the city.
After two years of use, this innovative solution has proved a success, regulating the routes taken by 63,070 trucks, thereby helping relieve congestion in the city center and reducing the carbon impact of the projects underway.
