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Patching potholes on a highway and runway

Ultracrete products have been used to tackle two difficult pothole patching problems, at Santiago’s busy airport in Chile and on a coastal highway on the island of Reunion.
February 13, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The island of Reunion has seen pothole repairs to its coastal highway using Ultracrete products

Ultracrete products have been used to tackle two difficult pothole patching problems, at Santiago’s busy airport in Chile and on a coastal highway on the island of Reunion

240 Instarmac's Chilean partner, Interadi, supplied 2492 UltraCrete Instant Road Repair to Santiago International Airport for a number of pothole repairs on one of its runways. Santiago International Airport is owned by the Chilean State and is the 6th busiest airport in South America. After a number of failed installations, the authorities were looking for a pothole repair product that would outperform the current methods used on their runways.

17.2 million people travelled from Santiago International Airport in 2015 (with numbers expecting to double, to over 34 million by 2034). And it was crucial that the material chosen would provide a permanent repair, could withstand heavy and constant trafficking and cause minimal disruption to passengers. After research, the Chilean State trialled the UltraCrete Instant Road Repair.
This proved highly successful in the application as the repairs could be carried out quickly, with minimum disruption to flights.

Meanwhile Instarmac's French partner, Vert Bleu supplied the UltraCrete PY5 flowable polyester resin system to repair a number of failed manhole covers on the scenic Route du Littoral in La Reunion. This road stretches along 13km of coastline and connects two major cities in La Reunion - Saint Denis and La Possession. Located at the bottom of steep volcanic cliffs, Route du Littoral is a road highly exposed to the sea and subject to damage caused by falling rocks. A number of manhole covers had become damaged along the Route du Littoral which needed urgent attention. It was crucial that the materials used would provide a quick and permanent repair and would remain uncompromised by these unique conditions.

PY5, part of UltraCrete's range of high performance bedding mortars, was supplied to repair the failed manhole covers. The material is able to withstand extreme wear and tear and boasts compressive strength gain of 85N/mm² after just 1 hour. And failed manhole covers reinstated with PY5 can be opened to traffic in just 40 minutes. This was important on the Route du Littoral where traffic reaches 80,000 vehicles every day.

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