This is brilliant. Asphalt mostly consists of polycyclics. Maltenes make up the continuous phase, and are typically alkane-modified resins. Compared to plastics

This is brilliant. Asphalt mostly consists of polycyclics. Maltenes make up the continuous phase, and are typically alkane-modified resins. Compared to plastics, these are much shorter chains. They are also prone to UV degradation which causes brittlement, leading to road degradation. Asphalt is just nasty stuff. I'd love to see it get replaced with alkanes (polyethlene and polypropylene from plastic, polyisoprene from rubber)