Open Access Externalities of Soil Stabilization in the Construction of Main Transporta- tion Infrastructures. The Case of the High Speed Railway in North Italy: Economical and Environmental Benefits

Abstract: The technique of soil stabilization is usually adopted with the purpose of rendering plastic soils coherent to the standards and requirements of engineering projects. The environmental benefits of soil stabilization versus the use of tra-ditional natural material from quarries are generally underestimated. The case study of one significant section of the Ital-ian High Speed Railway is presented here. This section is a part of the line from Milan to Venice. The volume of material that is needed for the development of embankments amounts to about 3 million m 3 and 1.5 millions m 3 of aggregates are needed for concrete. At the same time the construction of foundations produces about 1 million m 3 of soil: 350,000