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

  • Innovative advances in warm Mix Asphalts
    February 1, 2013
    Rising energy costs and increased awareness of safety and environmental issues have encouraged the development of Warm Mix Asphalts (WMA), which are typically produced at temperatures of between 130°C and 145°C, compared with around 175°C for traditional Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). WMAs are regularly used in many European countries, as well as both North and South America. The three most common ways to lower the working temperature of asphalt are: a) foaming technologies; b) wax additives; and c) chemical (surfa
  • Advances in concrete paving materials
    July 9, 2012
    Innovations in materials technology, as well as machines, could provide a major boost to the concrete paving sector - Mike Woof reports Development of new material technologies for the concrete paving sector continues apace and the latest innovations could provide the biggest boost for this market in many years. High performance cementitious material (HPCM) is an innovative concept that has been developed and tested for road surfacing applications as part of a project in which the UK's Transport Research La
  • A vision of roads
    September 3, 2012
    By 2040 European roads could be built differently, and hopefully be safer, according to the EU research programme NR2C
  • Researchers trial 3D printing for both concrete and asphalt roads
    February 27, 2019
    Automated road repairs, using 3D printing, could save money and vastly reduce disruption, and researchers are already showing it’s possible - Kristina Smith reports It’s the middle of the night, and in the street below a team is busy carrying out repairs to the road surface. But there isn’t a human in sight. A road repair drone has landed at the site of a crack and a 3D asphalt printer is now busy filling in that crack. A group of traffic cone drones have positioned themselves around the repair location