Sustainability-centered innovation drives the design of future large-scale infrastructure

Copenhagen’s proposed Eastern Ring Road is one of a few projects to date that integrates sustainability from the initial project planning phase. The Eastern Ring Road represents a significant investment in Copenhagen's infrastructure, reflecting the city's commitment to efficient urban transportation solutions with large focus on sustainability.

Improving connectivity between communities

Diverting traffic from downtown Copenhagen and surrounding neighbourhoods, the future Eastern Ring Road includes an immersed tunnel with four junctions. Connecting the northern and southern Copenhagen motorway networks, the project aims to provide a new route for vehicles to ease travel, improve connectivity in the Oresund region, relieve central Copenhagen from through-going traffic and support new urban developments.

Preliminary design for the project

Sund & Bælt, which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of some of Denmark's major infrastructure facilities, tasked a joint venture between Arup and COWI with developing the preliminary design for the project as the basis for the environmental impact assessment (potentially to be approved via a construction act before being tendered). The joint venture will also advise on the planning and design of the future approximately ten-kilometre Eastern Ring Road.

Facilitating innovation – a novel approach to sustainability

The Arup and COWI joint venture has supported Sund & Bælt with organising innovation workshops over the past year, bringing together contractors, academia and NGOs to help Sund & Bælt design a transport link which benefits society and the environment in the long term. The workshops were also based on related technical investigations to evaluate the viability, cost and climate impacts of a series of solutions focusing on low-carbon materials and reduction of fossil energy.
These workshops involved 55 experts from around 30 companies and organisations who identified some 40 initiatives for reducing carbon emissions related to materials and construction activities and for enhancing biodiversity and other environmental features. 
Using traditional methods, concrete – in particular, cement – and steel would account for more than half of the project’s total carbon footprint. Fuel and energy use during construction transports and site activities would be another major contributor to carbon emissions. With that in mind, many of the initiatives have focused on ways to reduce the quantities and emissions of these materials and energy sources, using, e.g., electric and hybrid machinery, hybrid ships and alternative marine fuels.

Sustainability as a key design criterion

Specialists with Arup and COWI are collaborating to design and plan this major transportation asset, which will facilitate quicker transportation and improve traffic infrastructure and accessibility, thereby supporting urban development in the Eastern harbour, including Nordhavn, Amager and the future artificial island Lynetteholm.

Establishing sustainability as one of the key design criteria means that future large-scale infrastructure can progressively decrease its contributions to countries' carbon emissions while promoting environmentally responsible practices.

This approach leads to the development of transportation assets that benefit the environment, support societal well-being and are economically viable.