First-of-its-kind low-carbon asphalt test completed in Waltham 

A test patch of pavement poured in a Waltham parking lot on Aug. 13 marked the global debut of Uberbinder’s new, low-carbon asphalt.

The patch — equivalent in size to two parking spots — is a case-study in how early-stage innovations, through the right kind of public–private collaboration, can make breakthrough discoveries possible. 

This discovery in particular promises to lower the greenhouse gas emissions of roadbuilding, helping to achieve the global effort of Net Zero Carbon by 2050.

“While it’s visually underwhelming in terms of just two parking spots in a lot, somewhere in a suburb of Boston, the significance of this is far greater than that,” Uberbinder co-founder and CEO Jett Yang said. 

Yang refers to the decarbonization of road networks as “our moonshot.” 

Though Yang and recently deceased co-founder Jonathan Davis are responsible for the innovation of Uberbinder, the testing of Uberbinder technology was enabled through extensive partnerships resulting from Boston’s ClimaTech Conference. At that meeting, Uberbinding connected with Mass Mobility Hub and BXP, together with Kentucky-based Blankenship Asphalt Tech & Training (BATT Lab) and Cassidy Paving. These companies provided necessary connections and resources to test Uberbinder materials in the field.

Waltham was chosen as the initial test site for Uberbinder’s asphalt thanks to the Mobility Hub research zone within BXP’s Waltham properties.

“In a very recalcitrant industry like road building that’s taken a century to optimize, there’s very little appetite for root-level innovations,” Yang said. “And what’s made the Waltham opportunity very different is a number of stakeholders from different … sectors came together and supported early-stage innovation, and that was quite special. And so we jumped at the opportunity.”