Micro-Trenching
Micro-Trenching is emerging around the world as the new, faster, more cost effective and less disruptive way to install fibre optic cables. It is being used to install super fast broadband networks and other communications networks.New techniques have emerged to cut and lay these cables, but new surfacing techniques are required in order to reinstate the road surface afterwards as a typical micro-trench is only 20mm wide and between 100 and 400mm deep.
Therefore, micro-trench reinstatements require a product that is:
- Free flowing to the bottom of the trench
- Self compacting
- Simple and safe to use
- Obtains a high bond strength
- Stable under traffic load
- Suitable for the road environment (retains its SRV and HAPAS approved)
Safetrack Crack Infill is the ideal product for standard width (20mm) micro-trench reinstatement. It is cold applied, making it easy to install safely in long narrow slots. It is HAPAS approved for infilling and sealing joints and seams in the highway, passing the required skid resistance and rutting tests. The high modulus material supports the cut faces of the asphalt and the high bond strength bonds the road surface back together.
For the narrowest micro-trenches (10mm wide) the finer Safetrack Overbanding product is more suitable to ensure full penetration to the bottom of the trench. Safetrack Overbanding is also a HAPAS approved product and the first overbanding product to comply with the New Roads and Streetworks Act.
These micro-trenching products can also be installed exceptionally quickly with minimal equipment, converting what was perceived as the slowest part of the trenching process to the quickest - reducing road closure times and minimising disruption.
