Best use of asphalts for optimum Asset Management with Jeff Farrington

1.  Why roads fail

• PowerPoint presentation showing many failed or failing surfaces, road (and footways).
• Slides are used showing problems and if possible will be supplemented by others taken on the attendee’s networks.
• The importance of adequate and effective surface water drainage is stressed and reducing the water table locally if necessary.
• Also the need for best quality NRSWA reinstatement work, is stressed, nothing less.

2. A basic understanding of what makes asphalts durable

• Powerpoint presentation looking briefly at aggregates but covering bitumen in more depth, explaining the significance of ensuring the voids in finished asphalts are as low as possible, what happens if we don’t compact asphalt properly and why overheating mixes, “to make them easier to lay” is to be avoided at all costs.

3.  Surface treatments for roads

• PowerPoint presentation examining maintenance interventions and how the asset deteriorates if you try to defer treatments too long.
• Examining the different surface treatment options and looking at which surfaces are suitable for some sites but not others. Also some surfaces which are too far gone to invest maintenance funds trying to prolong their effective lives.

The treatments considered including their pros and cons:-

• All types of  surface dressing,
• Micro-asphalts
• Nimpactacote
• Thin surfacings
• BS close graded asphalt concrete surface courses
• German type ie proper, SMA’s not the rubbish you have seen previously
• Un-chipped, high stone content hot rolled asphalt
• Chipped hot rolled asphalt.
• Also, how to deal with overlaying concrete roads if you have any.

4.  Treatments for footways

5.  Patching

• Hand-lay work, the use of fluxed asphalt and discouraging the use of deferred-set mixes in permanent work.
• Use and mis-use of hot boxes.
• The use of  “Road-master” type patching,.
• Infra-red patching
• The use of workability aids in patching materials.

6.  Retread

• Shallow recycling,
• Deeper in-situ recycling
• Ex-situ recycling.

* All including dealing with tar in lower layers

7.  Maintaining skid resistance.

• PowerPoint Presentation – explaining polished stone values, texture depths, the very latest Interim Advice notes with the latest values to be achieved on different categories of road. Plus effective means of restoring skid resistance where testing shows it to be below the intervention levels.

8.  Group exercises

• Delegates are formed  into small groups and identical illustrated examples of defective areas of road are given to each group.  They decide  what the problems are in each area and how best to deal with them.

9. Winding up plenary session

• What are seen as “best” treatments for each area are suggested and discussed.

The course includes Group Exercises 

This is a very significant part of the course as on most courses delegates attend and then,  as a result of work pressures, have little or no time to digest the course contents. Many will not have experienced the great range of possible maintenance options nor have sufficient experience to understand the conditions they see in many roads. They are therefore unable to fully appreciate the best whole life cost solution to the problems. Delegates are formed  into small groups and identical illustrated examples of defective areas of road are given to each group.  They decide  what the problems are in each area and how best to deal with them, and produce a 20 year maintenance strategy for that road.

Course presenter:

Jeff Farrington, a chartered civil engineer with more than 40  years’ experience in road building and maintenance.

Each delegate  has Jeff Farrington’s e-mail address and is able to contact him on a one to one basis to discuss any problems they meet in their subsequent work. This facility is restricted to course delegates.