This article produces a high-resolution assessment of the materials embedded in Belgian road infrastructure. It moves beyond aggregate stock estimates by linking road type, structural layers, material composition and local conditions to spatially explicit infrastructure data.

The analysis identifies non-linear relationships between material-stock efficiency and population density and assesses recycling potential in relation to location, degradation and renewal. Scenarios indicate that better planning and recycled-asphalt strategies can produce major greenhouse-gas reductions, with reported potentials reaching approximately 53 and 70 per cent for the measures assessed.

The study shows how material-stock research can inform maintenance, urban mining and decarbonisation. Its value lies in connecting quantities of material with the spatial and temporal conditions under which they can actually be recovered.