Asphalt reinforcement proves its worth

Andreas tells

Everyone knows them: never-ending construction sites, rattling milling machines and pavers Involved in intensive work to renew the road surface. You often get the impression that there are more and more. And rightly so: due to continuously growing mobility, our roads are also experiencing increasing strain.

Under the influence of traffic congestion, freeze-thaw cycles and seasonal temperature fluctuations, reflection cracks form on the roadway. These cracks appear a few centimetres deeper, in the so-called asphalt base course, and continue through the binder course to the road surface. If water finally penetrates the asphalt in the damaged areas, the condition deteriorates rapidly.

Sustainable asphalt rehabilitation: Less is more

Unfortunately, when renovating a cracked road, clients still too often rely on a complete renovation, although the renewal of the binder course is not always necessary. As long as the load-bearing capacity is sufficient, asphalt reinforcement can be placed directly on the cracked binder instead of milling it out and replacing it. The reinforcement grid prevents existing cracks from penetrating the surface course by absorbing tensile stresses and preventing local overloading of the asphalt. An ecologically and economically sensible alternative.

New paths instead of well-trodden paths

Experts are already sounding the alarm: the demand for sand and gravel has risen so dramatically that resources have been exhausted in many places and new mining sites would require massive intervention in nature. Oil is becoming more and more expensive, and as a result, the price of bitumen and asphalt is also rising. Greenhouse gas emissions accelerate climate change and destroy our livelihoods. The fact is that new paths must be taken. That's what we're committed to. In order to change entrenched patterns of behaviour, we need not only data and facts, but above all convincing public relations; strong associations that plead from experience for sustainable asphalt rehabilitation.

The Road to Success

The Rosenstraße in Ochtrup leads directly to the border crossing in the Netherlands and is therefore characterized by an extremely high volume of trucks. Due to structural damage resulting in a network of cracks, the entire width of the road was rehabilitated in 1996. The binder and base course were also extremely cracked and in very poor condition. For financial and time reasons, it was decided not to mill out the two layers. Only the top layer was milled. Subsequently, our HaTelit asphalt reinforcement was laid directly on the binder course. The success is impressive:

Even after more than 20 years, the road was in excellent condition. During an inspection by TÜV Rheinland, no cracks were found along the entire length. Our reinforcement grids have proven themselves excellently — as good as full resurfacing, only much cheaper, faster and more sustainable.

Money, time and CO₂ savings

It is worth taking a look at the savings potential: the costs for milling the binder course as well as the expenses for renewal, paving and compaction are saved. All in all, the direct cost savings of the reinforced variant are currently > 40%.

And the emissions balance is also positive: more than 60% of the CO₂emissions generated are caused by extremely high energy consumption in the production of the asphalt. Thanks to the PET grids, complete asphalt layers can be eliminated here. A conservative view of our construction project alone results in a CO₂ saving of 24.3 t per kilometre of road being rehabilitated – about as much CO₂ as a married couple produces per year. This does not include the transport of building materials, machinery and workers.

Another aspect that contributes significantly to CO₂ savings is the reduction of construction time. As a result, the road can be reopened earlier, which leads to a reduction in roadworks-related traffic jams. This is a factor that should not be neglected — in NRW, 50% of all traffic jams are caused by construction sites.

To this day, the Rosenstraße in Ochtrup is in perfect condition. The use of bitumen-coated PET grids has proven to be an alternative remediation measure – technically, economically and ecologically. Speaking of ecological: In order to save even more CO₂, HUESKER has developed an ecoLine — geogrids made from 100% recycled PET yarns. In this way, we close the recycling loop and save natural resources.

Because we care about the environment

We will continue to work to explain the technical, economic and environmental advantages of using geosynthetics to the tendering bodies. Abroad, factors such as environmental friendliness and CO₂ savings are already taken into account during the tendering process. We are convinced that this approach will also be used in Germany in the medium term. After all, our educational work is already bearing fruit: geogrids are increasingly being recognized and established by the responsible authorities as a sustainable and economical construction method. This is the only way to further advance the EU's climate targets.

Further information

Yours, Andreas