Skip to main content

Long life pavements trials

Seven countries have confirmed their participation in field trials for the proposed third phase of the Long Life Pavement Project, being operated under the auspices of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation) and International Transport Forum (ITF).
July 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Seven countries have confirmed their participation in field trials for the proposed third phase of the Long Life Pavement Project, being operated under the auspices of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation) and 1102 International Transport Forum (ITF).

France, New Zealand, Denmark, Belgium, the UK, Ukraine and Spain have confirmed while the US, Israel and South Africa have expressed interest and could also participate in the trials.

The third phase requires that countries take an active role in constructing roads using epoxy asphalt and high performance cementitious materials (HPCM).

France indicated it will launch two construction sites using HPCM (a roundabout and a 100m section of urban road). In the latter case, a parallel experiment will take place to assess the de-pollution effect of Titane Dioxide.

New Zealand has already started constructing sections of road using epoxy asphalt.

The Long Life Pavements project began in 2002, and in the first phase an economic evaluation of long life wearing course was performed. It concluded that long life pavement surfacing costing around three times that of traditional wearing courses could be economically viable, assuming an expected life of 30 years and an annual average daily traffic of 80,000 or more.

It also concluded that laboratory tests should be conducted on the two candidate materials identified (epoxy asphalt and high performance cementitious material).

In Phase 2 (2005-08), the two materials were tested in laboratories where it was found that both materials performed well, and it was concluded that the materials should be implemented on large scale demonstrations to test production, laying and performance issues

The objectives of Phase 3 are to coordinate trials in order to research production, laying and quality control, as well as cost, and demonstrate the performance of such surfacing under real traffic and environmental conditions.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Degaroute skipline markings
    May 6, 2016
    Of the 8,050km of tollway roads in the United States, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority manages 460km of them As part of the maintenance programme for this network of five highways, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has partnered with Applied Research Associates to manage and monitor the performance of all their pavement marking programmes, providing recommendations for striping projects.
  • Rigorous testing for high performance materials
    February 9, 2012
    Today’s highways require high performance materials, and this means rigorous testing as Patrick Smith reports Highways are under greater pressure than ever today and asphalts have to grant high performances in order to withstand traffic and meet the standards. Studying the plastic permanent deformations in hot mix asphalt (HMA) is very important to obtain useful information for mix designers as an appropriate mix design will reduce the formation of unevenness on road surface. To investigate the effect of mi
  • Time, money and the environment – reducing the costs of a road project
    April 23, 2013
    Road construction has evolved considerably in recent years and today more options are available, offering greater longevity and durability, lowered costs, faster application and reduced impact on the environment. The fact that more options are available, however, means that more critical decisions must be made in order to ensure that the optimal solution is selected for the specific needs of each project. In this article we will look at some of the variables that should be considered, while examining the va
  • International Road Federation has partnered with RAI Intertraffic
    April 1, 2016
    Delegates experience IRF training at world’s largest road fair The International Road Federation has partnered with RAI Intertraffic, the organiser of the world’s largest road fair, to hold complimentary training workshops open to all visitors. A pilot course on roadside hazard identification and management introduced during Intertraffic Istanbul in 2015 received very positive feedback and has now been expanded to four introductory courses on a wider range of topics made available to all Intertraffic Ams