Thin surfacing systems, as the term is currently understood, were introduced into the United Kingdom in 1991. On some sites used for the system to gain Highways Agency approval, the thin surfacing systems are approaching the end of their assumed design lives whilst others have only been in service for just over two years. Therefore, it is opportune to begin to evaluate information collected from these sites to establish a better understanding of their design life. In this report, published information and the data currently available from the trial sites has been reviewed to confirm the suitability of proprietary thin surfacings for use in the United Kingdom. For the review, the systems have been grouped into five general categories with data on early sites being available from four of the categories. Selected sites are being monitored by visual inspection, by SCRIMtex surveys and by measuring recovered binder properties from cores. This report gives the results, and their analysis, after the first (of three) year of monitoring, from which tentative estimates of the average service lives of four different categories of thin surfacing system have been proposed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract