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

  • Tunnel construction benefits from improved visibility
    November 14, 2012
    Major new tunnel construction projects will, on completion, help secure more reliable journey times for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Meanwhile, as Guy Woodford reports, leading ITS solution companies have been providing vital equipment for major road tunnels The Martina Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a 4,500tonne Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance Shield said to have a world record diameter of 15.55m, has required just under a year to build the first of two tunnel tubes for the 2.5km lon
    Read More
  • Rebuilding better gravel roads more efficiently
    October 15, 2015
    Using a linear road crusher can rebuild gravel roads using material onsite at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods. Gravel roads are common in many rural areas in the US to provide access to temporary work sites and are also used widely in developing countries. Maintaining and repairing these roads can pose challenges and new methods may offer improvements in efficiency.
    Read More
  • Crossing the Alps for five decades
    March 24, 2020
    Italy’s A22 Autostrada route is a key transport connection for Europe and also a model for efficient operational management
    Read More
  • Inter-oceanic Corridor for Brazil-Bolivia-Chile
    March 2, 2015
    A new Bolivian link is playing a key role in a major Latin American highway – Mauro Nogarin reports. Construction of a new route through Bolivia will help deliver improved transport between Latin America’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The construction of the highway between Santa Barbara-Caranavi-Quiquibey has been carried out by the consortium ARBOL. This firm is a partnership between the Argentinean company Grupo Eling and Administradora de Caminos Boliviana (ABC). The stretch of highway is an important s
    Read More

Highlighted Content