EXECUTIVE

REPORT

High-tech highways

Efficient road-repair techniques were demonstrated at an Innovations Day organised by the West Midlands HAUC at Longbridge. Alan Guthrie attended.

Motorists frequently bemoan the state of our nation’s roads, and their discontent has increased further following the severe winter. The Department for Transport (DfT) has already stated that taxpayers will have contributed £693m to council road repairs in 2009-10, and that the figure will rise to £763m for the next 12 months. Add to this the amount

The Rhinopatch process re-uses the existing road surface material to effect a repair.

of both planned and emergency work needed to maintain gas, water, electricity and other utility networks, and the massive scale of the highways maintenance task becomes evident, along with the demand for appropriate equipment - much of which will be hired in.

A dedicated Highways and Utilities Innovations Day held recently at Longbridge, Warwickshire, demonstrated some of the latest products and techniques available for such work. Organised by the West Midlands HAUC (Highway Authorities & Utilities Committee), in association with Severn Trent Water, and sponsored by support services organisation Enterprise plc. In particular, the event highlighted equipment and processes that have been designed to reduce the environmental impact of such maintenance tasks.

“The idea for the Innovations Day arose out of the 12th Annual Roadshow exhibition that we held in Staffordshire last September,” said Andy Wilkins, Chair of West Midlands HAUC. “Many visitors expressed strong interest in seeing more real-life demonstrations of equipment that addresses issues of sustainability, re-use of resources and recycling, as a contrast to traditional methods. This proved the need for a dedicated event.”

Best practice approaches

John Davies, Enterprise’s Marketing Manager, told EHN that “DfT delegates attended the Roadshow, and they also expressed interest in an event that would demonstrate new techniques and best practice approaches. So we sat down with HAUC and Severn Trent Water to

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devise a day that would enable suppliers to show new products, grouped according to five major aspects of road works, namely efficiency, stakeholder communication, tackling climate change, reducing disruption and Health & Safety issues.”

Speaking at the Innovations Day, Patricia Hayes, the DfT Director of Roads and Vehicles, Safety and Standards, explained that the Department had discussed issues involved with increasing efficiency at a Street Works Summit meeting held last October at Aston University, attended by local authorities, transport operators, motoring bodies and other interested groups. This had shown a need for organisations to collaborate and adopt new techniques in order to achieve results more efficiently, particularly during challenging economic conditions. She welcomed the Innovations Day as an opportunity for professionals to see the latest methods, which could lead to higher overall quality standards.

One of the techniques demonstrated during the day was the Rhinopatch sustainable road repair process, developed by ASI Solutions of Milton Keynes. Mobile LPG-powered burners are placed over a potholed area, typically for ten minutes, to soften the surface and make it ready for re-working and levelling. Granular infill materials and binders are applied before compacting the surface and finishing it with a skid resistant dressing.

Environmentally friendly

Rhinopatch is environmentally friendly, because approximately 90% of the original surface material is re-used. Moreover, as the process creates no waste material, ASI claims that carbon emissions are reduced by 94%. It is a quiet process, lending itself to night working in urban locations, and since no hand-held equipment is needed to break open the ground, the risk of exposure to HAV is eliminated.

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