On Thursday, the Netherlands started construction of the first energy-neutral highway, reports the Financieele Dagblad.

The A6 to Almere expansion project has already won a European Procura+ sustainability award, in 2016.

Last June, infrastructure minister Schultz van Haegen announced that the Dutch road and water network will be fully energy neutral by 2030, with solar panels along roads and waterways, and roadside grass cuttings converted to green gas.

The current motorway widening project on the A6 will have 30km of solar panels to supply the energy for road and traffic lights, while infrastructure body Rijkswaterstaat is also trying to develop a type of asphalt that will reduce fuel consumption by producing less drag.

But, reports the Financieele Dagblad, the A6 project has not been without problems as, due to “mistakes” made in the local municipality, it does not have access to all of the land it required and so “must improvise”.