The need to conserve road making materials has led to the development of methods of resurfacing in which part, or all, of the existing surfacing is recycled. Substantial economies can possibly be made in this way compared to conventional resurfacing methods. In addition, as repaving can combine the process of heating and scarifying the existing surfacing, re-mixing and re-laying in one operation, benefits may also be obtained in reduced traffic disruption. As part of an investigation to examine the overall viability of the repave technique, the quality of surface finish on trial lengths of a number of trunk road and motorway sites has been examined. Repaving with varying amounts of re-cycled material, has resulted in a riding surface comparable in quality with that produced by conventional methods. However, resurfacing by whatever process appears to introduce a variable finish and an increase in the amplitude of short wavelength features in the longitudinal road profile, which could adversely affect ride, particularly at low speeds. `Before and after' studies at two trunk road sites show a significant improvement in surface texture, with a doubling of texture depths in most cases. (Author/publisher)
Abstract