Newly constructed low-noise asphalt surface fails

Questions are being asked over the construction of a new section of the A1 autobahn in Germany. The highway stretch is being scrutinised due to surface failures and lies close to the city of Bremen but has been open for less than three months.
May 15, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Questions are being asked over the construction of a new section of the A1 autobahn in Germany.

The highway stretch is being scrutinised due to surface failures and lies close to the city of Bremen but has been open for less than three months.

The road carries around 70,000 vehicles/day and its construction was intended to reduce congestion between the port cities of Hamburg and Bremen. Numerous potholes are reported to have appeared in the surface of the highway. Given the recent severe weather, failures of older road surfaces are expected but these problems should not occur on links that have been so recently completed.

The investigations will focus on how water penetration into joints could have already caused the freeze-thaw process to break up the running surface or whether other problems such as material segregation or incorrect mix design could have been factors. The low-noise asphalt surface is crumbling at various points along the 73km section recently opened.

Asphalt milling, paving & compaction Highway & Network Management

Related Content

  • Nepal plans road infrastructure expansion
    March 12, 2014
    Major road expansion is planned for Nepal, but will face huge challenges due to the country’s geography - Mike Woof reports, with local information from World Highways' Nepal correspondent, Ram Krishna Wagle The tiny, landlocked nation of Nepal lies sandwiched between two of the world’s largest countries, China and India and maintains good relations with both. Politically Nepal has strong links with China, while culturally its ties are close with India and these relationships work both ways. Despite bein
    Read More
  • The UK’s pothole crisis is causing vehicle damage and crashes
    July 1, 2019
    The poor state of maintenance of UK roads is a factor in many crashes while also causing damage to vehicles according to road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart. In a bid to address the issue, IAM RoadSmart is calling for a long-term plan to tackle the problem. According to a survey it conducted, nearly 50% of the respondents have experienced pothole damage to their vehicles. The government’s Transport Select Committee has issued a report stating that the current short-term approach to financing road maintenan
    Read More
  • Defective eyesight, a road safety concern?
    February 16, 2012
    Failing eyesight presents safety problems for Europe's older drivers. A new report highlights substantial variation in the assessment of drivers' vision across Europe, and recommends that Member States make moves to better assess drivers' vision. Checking the vision of drivers plays a valuable role in the EU's target of halving road deaths across the EU by 2020. The aim is to achieve this road safety improvement by legislative means that change driver behaviour, raise the technical standards of vehicles and
    Read More
  • Developments in asphalt paving machines increases competition
    April 10, 2012
    With the asphalt paving segment split broadly into two methods, American or European,. it is no surprise that manufacturers. from these countries have dominated the market for some years. An interesting development in recent times has been seen with various European firms developing asphalt pavers to suit North American needs, including BOMAG, Dynapac and Vögele. Caterpillar and Volvo by comparison both offer both European and US-style pavers, with separate model ranges that have been developed over many ye
    Read More

Highlighted Content