TOPICS
Thin
Surfacing
Motto
of the Month
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Introduction
It will slowly filter through the "industry", certainly
in the area that I work, that I have after "many, many, years"
(yes I was a regular listener of the Navy Lark), been upgraded and
given the title of Materials Engineer.
I receive this title with some pride because I have never been good at
"thinking correctly", and it is exactly thirty years since
this title was last held in the organisation for whom I work.
The title was lost in the re-organisation of 1974, dates me a bit I
think.
It is unlikely I will be doing anything different to what I have been
doing over the past years, but with only a few years left before I
retire it is nice to at last call myself a Materials Engineer,
officially.
I hope this does not mean I have to start "thinking
correctly" or I can see myself being "busted" down to
senior technician again.
Thin
Surfacing
It must appear that I do go on a
bit about this subject, but it is too important not to bring it to
your attention.
I urge you to read a small but very important article in the
engineering journal New Civil Engineer (NCE), of the 24th. of June,
page 6, it is headed, "Thin road toppings face elasticity
checks".
This is an important article because it voices concerns that appear to
contradict statements that have been continually published praising
the benefits and longevity of proprietary thin surfacing systems, and
it is quoting sources that have to be heard.
It would be interesting to have details of the "new surfacings"
that are over ten years old, and which the Highways Agency are
"very happy with" as quoted by a spokeswoman.
They will not of course be "Thin Surfacings" because they
were not introduced until 1997.
They may of course be bituminous mixtures laid thinly, and I could
show you miles of those that are over ten years old, but they are not
proprietary, just "good old" BS 4987, or BS 594 mixtures.
If as suggested hot rolled asphalt (HRA) becomes a Thin Surfacing, and
hence proprietary, as believed possible by the TRL, remember it was
intimated on this website three years
ago, when this site was first published to the web.
Not that, as a public servant, I will be recommending proprietary HRA,
I will be advising selection from the many generic mixtures specified
in BS 594, just as I recommend finding a suitable bituminous
"macadam" for a particular site from BS 4987.
Whoops, I think I may have just been busted down to senior technician
again.
Motto of the Month
"It is useless for sheep to
pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf holds a different
opinion."
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