Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

The project to build a new orbital motorway to bypass the Spanish city of Barcelona has benefited from the use of the world's largest asphalt paver. This represents one of the first jobs in Europe for the power paver, Vögele's SUPER 3000-2, which was first launched at the Bauma exhibition in Munich in 2010.

Mixtures with special additives are being produced for roads, offering noise reduction and aiding recycling. Patrick Smith reports. Noise-reducing road surfacings have been used in motorway construction for some time. But relatively new are noise-optimised surfacings used on roads in towns that do not follow a standard concept.Road trials with these materials have taken place in Germany since 2007 and have been prioritised due to the European Union Guidelines on the Assessment and Management of Environmenta

Ammann is following last year's launch of its 17.5tonne ASC170 compactor with models weighing from 11-16tonnes. The ASC110, ASC130 and ASC150 share features with the bigger machine as well as having a reduced drum frame width and a revised weight distribution over the models they replace. The firm says that the design changes improve efficiency making them comparable in productivity with conventional products in the next higher weight category. Compact dimensions increase manoeuvrability and stability of th

Swedish contractor Peab Asfalt generally works on major road and highway projects in the inland portion of the country. However the company has shown itself able to take on a considerable challenge, by repaving an airport runway.

Overnight repair work on a major English motorway has avoided the major traffic disruption and significantly increased road surfacing costs that would have occurred if left untreated.

Dutch retexturing specialist Klaruw has developed four new machine prototypes for improving pavement surface skid resistance. Its innovative MacroTex (MAT) prototype is believed to be the world's first wet steel shot-blasting machine, and the company also has two concept machines for controlled diamond grinding

Ennis Prismo is introducing a new pothole reinstatement product called Repair and a novel temporary line marking system. The pothole product is said to be quick, easy and safe to use, as well as being inexpensive to purchase. This product requires little training to use and is said to be ready to carry traffic soon after installation. It is also said to provide a long-lasting repair even on roads with high traffic volumes. Meanwhile the temporary line marking system is said to offer high retroreflectivity e

UK firm Instarmac is aiming to expand its customer base for its innovative pothole patching systems. The firm now offers a broad range of repair products to suit asphalt and concrete road surfaces.

Special additives are used in asphalt mixes to give them added benefits as Patrick Smith reports