Wind of Change Blows Cold
Every year traffic volumes on UK roads increase, leading to ever greater wear. At the same time the pressure has never been greater for maintenance companies to reduce the amount of time they spend occupying the road space. However maintaining our ageing road network is imperative or large scale, expensive major maintenance is simply stored up for the future. In addition, keeping the travelling public safe, by maintaining road markings and safety surfacings to assist the Europe wide effort to reduce road casualties, is critical.
But by using traditional techniques and materials there is only so much that can be done, particularly in the winter months. Materials need time to gain strength and short working days limit progress.
Mike Harper, Development Director at Stirling Lloyd Polychem believes that it is time to look again at some of the standard methods used to maintain the road network and look to a new generation of cold applied Methylmethacrylate (MMA) based materials to help ‘keep Britain moving’.
“I believe we can achieve four core objectives by using such materials” states Harper:
1. Reduce Disruption – That is not to say essential maintenance is neglected, but it means selecting materials that will give extended service. If materials last longer, then periods before essential maintenance intervention is increased, minimising congestion.
2. Better Value – The world is under financial pressure. It is time to look at value with even more scrutiny. Is repetitive maintenance using the lowest cost materials the right approach or are UK tax payers and the travelling public better served by the industry utilising better quality maintenance materials, providing a lower whole-life cost?
3. Improved Safety – Safety is always the number one criteria. MMA based materials are cold applied so there is no need for boilers, molten materials or the ‘hot trade’ risks to operatives. They also have a longer service life, minimising the number of times operatives need to work in the road.
4. Reduced Carbon Footprint – Repetitive maintenance means repetitive plant mobilisations, generating CO2, while the use of ‘hot trades’ also increases emissions. Durable, cold applied products reduce them dramatically.
However, there is a school of thought that resin based materials cannot be used all year round, with limited use in the winter months. “That’s why we use MMA resins!” states Harper. “They are not as well known in this industry, although we have been using them for 40 years. They are much less sensitive to weather conditions than traditional resins used in road maintenance and unlike other resins they cure and gain full strength in less than an hour – even in the middle of winter!”
Demands are ever increasing; more cars on the same roads and yet the requirement is less congestion, fewer casualties and better value.
The Safetrack range of highway maintenance systems provide new options for the highway professional to assist in achieving these requirements with the added bonus of reducing the environmental impact at the same time.
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