Historic promenade given a facelift

In the UK, Foster Contracting was part of the team that carried out road improvements to the main route along the historic promenade of the seaside town Great Yarmouth, in eastern England. The harshness of the sea environment coupled with traffic loading caused the road surface to deteriorate, leading to brittle cracking of the thin surface course and also reflective cracking from overlain service trenches and patches. The town centre was already undergoing a major regeneration and as part of this scheme, i
July 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
In the UK, Foster Contracting was part of the team that carried out road improvements to the main route along the historic promenade of the seaside town Great Yarmouth, in eastern England.

The harshness of the sea environment coupled with traffic loading caused the road surface to deteriorate, leading to brittle cracking of the thin surface course and also reflective cracking from overlain service trenches and patches.
The town centre was already undergoing a major regeneration and as part of this scheme, it was decided to carry out essential carriageway repairs to Marine Parade. Core samples showed the existing road construction comprised a thin pavement with a maximum of 125mm of asphalt overlaying sand and gravel.

To prolong the life of the new road construction, the polymeric geocomposite, PGM-G 100/100, manufactured by 1631 TenCate Geosynthetics, was installed to retard the formation of reflection cracks in the bituminous inlay as well as to seal cracks in the underlying layers and prevent penetration by water and oxygen; reinforce the asphalt layers of the carriageway, and prolong its life.

TenCate PGM-G 100/100 paving geocomposite is a mechanically bonded continuous filament non-woven geotextile made from 100% polypropylene and reinforced with high modulus glass filaments, which allows construction plant to traffic the geocomposite during the surfacing operation without damage or picking up.
Contractor Ennstone Johnston planed 40mm off the carriageway, cleaned the exposed surface, and filled exposed cracks greater than 4mm wide to ensure a 100% bond between the planed surface and the paving fabric.

TenCate's specialist installation contractor, Foster Contracting, used its calibrated tanker to spray a bond coat of 160/220 pen bitumen (approximately 1litre/m² at 180°C) onto the planed surface. It then used its bespoke laying machine to install the PGM-G 100/100 under tension onto the hot bond coat.

Finally, Ennstone Johnston overlaid the PGM-G 100/100 with 40mm of a polymer modified proprietary overlay, and a total of 7,000m² of road refurbishment was successfully completed over a seven-day period.

Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Swell times for swale construction with a Sidewinder
    October 9, 2018
    Specialised swale construction featured in Northern England recently UK contractor Balfour Beatty examined different methods for building swales along the Norwich Northern Distributor Road near the English city of Norwich. Balfour decided to trial specialised road-widening machines, specially configured excavator buckets and modified compaction equipment. Excavators and dump trucks prepared the area for placement of sub-base material. The swale areas were constructed using both conventional methods as wel
    Read More
  • Compaction in the field
    July 31, 2012
    Special applications require stringent quality control and with compaction machines a key part of the paving process, their contribution can be vital. A high quality finish has helped athletes breaking sporting records on the track at the Shanghai Stadium in China during this year's 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Built in 1997 the stadium has been the venue for numerous major sporting events prior to the Olympics, however its track was showing signs of wear and the local authorities decided that a full refurbis
    Read More
  • Cost-saving compact twin layer asphalt paving
    February 28, 2012
    Twin-layer paving offers high quality, long lasting road surfaces to be constructed. Paver manufacturer Dynapac is one of the pioneers of the twin-layer paving technique, which it calls Compactasphalt. According to Dynapac this method offers major benefits to contractors and clients alike as roads surfaced using this technique last longer and are cheaper to maintain. To ensure contractors have maximum utilisation of their machines, Dynapac offers a modular paver system that can be operated using the convent
    Read More
  • Advanced technologies will increase the wear life of bitumen further
    February 28, 2012
    Bitumen has been used for thousands of years, but now a wide variety of products are available that can be added to it to produce blends with improved properties. According to the Refined Bitumen Association (RBA) bitumen is the oldest known engineering material. Indeed, the organisation says that its versatility as a construction material is unparalleled, and having been used as an adhesive, sealant and waterproofing agent for over 8,000 years, its uses include the construction and maintenance of roads, ai
    Read More

Highlighted Content