Surface Dressing in the Winter (Meaning driving on it, not laying it.)
This is the period when road surfaces really come in for scrutiny, and in my opinion when a good surface dressed road surface really shows its merit.
I make this comment because I feel there are " moves" to discredit surface dressing, because of the nature of the process at the time of laying, in favour of the continually promoted ubiquitous Thin Surfacing.
Surface dressing should be judged by what it is good at, and it is very good at providing a highly textured surface, and with a high Polished Stone Value (PSV) aggregate if required, a highly skid resistant surface over large areas of a local highway network at very reasonable cost. 
Surface dressing is poor at public relations, but I like it, especially in the winter, and I am prepared to say a few words on its behalf.
In areas that may not receive prompt winter maintenance, because they are off the main traffic carrying routes, the good texture and the skid resistance it provides in frosty conditions is extremely important.
On a cold morning when you are trying to exit your residential estate or negotiate a none salted country lane, the odd chip to your paintwork or windscreen received when the surface was applied may not seem so important.
But I have to be honest with myself, how many of the motoring public are going to appreciate this much maligned type of road surface, probably very few, only the dwindling number of knowledgeable highways maintenance professionals as we drive carefully to work. 
But for some of us, only one more winter, which is nice.

In simplified terminology for the general public, and the "suits" now largely in charge of our industry, as long as the "pointy-bits", a technical term you understand, of the highly textured surface protrude above the frost, ice, or snow covering, the rubber of the tyre will find grip on them, and providing you drive carefully you will be able to negotiate the road safely.

In the summer, on an established surface dressing, you will just be able to stop quicker, when the sheep, cow or tractor appears around the bend you should be approaching more sensibly.

Articles in the "Press"
Perhaps you will take the time to read "In pursuit of Excellence", in the NCE - Local Government File - October 2005, it is an interesting piece.
I am quite prepared to put myself in the group of engineers that lack "softer skills", but I like to think what I say will be able to be understood and have some meaning, even if it is not to everybody's liking.
It is my opinion that softness is a characteristic desired in a toilet roll, not in an engineer dealing with contractors and suppliers who, believe me on this, are not at all soft.

Bituminous Mixture of the Month - High Stone Content Asphalt (HSCA)
People seem to be confused, and stone mastic asphalt is getting a bad press, not always deserved.
Even the well designed, well produced, SMA has been tarred (sorry about that) with the same brush as the mixtures that are giving cause for concern. 
This is more than a little unfair to the staff of the quarries and companies who have designed and produced good products, with the properties and characteristics a good surface course is meant to possess.
Until the industry sorts itself out, there are many engineers fearful of using SMA and not knowing what to use in its place, especially for situations where "health and safety" warrants a road closure if you want to lay hot rolled asphalt and precoats, but traffic management dictates that this is not possible because a suitable diversion is not available.

May I suggest you consider High Stone Content Asphalt, as specified in BS 594, it is a durable, impervious and stable material, with ultimate skid resistance dependent upon the aggregate used, as with other surfacing materials. Take a look at some typical examples, the top two images of newly laid photographs are of 55% 0/14 HSCA. I think it is Table 3-Column3/5, but please check because there has just been published yet another edition of BS 594:Part 1, something to do with "factory production control", do not ask, I have not studied it thoroughly yet.

	This bituminous mixture is a predominantly single size coarse aggregate, i.e. passing a 14mm. retained 10mm. if it is a 55%0/14 denomination, and fines, i.e. passing 2mm. sieve. Personally I prefer natural sand fines but they can be crushed rock fines if the source is suitable. I like sand fines because generally the mixture will take a higher binder content without showing signs of fatting up, and to me higher binder contents equate to increased durability if the mixture design is correct. (You may wish to increase the minimum Target Binder Content a little to off set low production binder contents.) As with any surface course bituminous mixture the established surface of a HSCA after an amount of trafficking is quite different to when laid, and will remain in this condition for many years according to traffic type and density. In my opinion, this mixture is not that dissimilar from a stone mastic asphalt, in the casual appearance of the mix, (see core) and the established appearance of the road surface. What is fundamentally different between these two types of bituminous mixture is the way the higher binder content is held/distributed in the material. With a HSCA the mixture has a high specific surface, meaning with the high proportion of sand, and approximately 6% of filler it has a lot of surface area for the binder to be deposited upon, so that the actual surface of the aggregate particles will have a relatively light covering of bitumen to be worn off by traffic before the sharpness of the sand and coarse aggregte becomes exposed. The design of a SMA is an entirely different concept with the high binder content being held in the voids between the single sized aggregate. If the voids are not filled with "mastic" is it really an SMA., in accordance with the original concept of this type of material.

Binder drainage during transporting and laying of an SMA is prevented by the addition of a bitumen modifier usually some form of fibres to stabilise/thicken the bitumen.
However the nature of the design of an SMA does mean that the surface aggregate does possess a much thicker layer of binder to be removed by traffic before the coarse aggregate is exposed. 
I have said many times that I have not experienced incidents of poor early life skid resistance with SMA and this I attribute to the quality of the fine aggregate, passing a 2.36mm. sieve, (of which there is a considerable proportion) in the SMA mixtures I have encountered.
So, you pay your money and you take your choice, except you cannot use HSCA on a motorway or trunk road, it is not permitted, probably because it is unlikely you will achieve the required initial texture depth.
However the quickly exposed sharpness of the natural sand does very quickly provide an excellent micro-texture, a deeper macro-texture may take a little longer to develop according to the mixture design.
Now the disclaimer, everybody has them, including BBA - HAPAS certificates, so I am not going to leave one out.
The material you choose to use on your highway network is your decision (bear that in mind when you are talking to the "company" sales representative). 
I am just trying to increase your knowledge so that you have increased options to consider when selecting the surface course most appropriate for a particular site, and you cannot rule out cost in these decisions.
Talk to your road pavement engineer, talk to your Materials Engineer (if you still have one), talk to the "technical guys" of your local suppliers, go and look at examples of this material laid, as it is still quite a favourite of some authorities.
But remember all 55%0/14 HSCA's from different production units, or even the same production unit, are not going to be identical, neither are SMA's, or HRA's, or CGM's or even EME's.
These are all broad classifications of materials, containing different aggregates, binders and fillers, produced in different types of mixing plants, all of which are factors that will affect the material supplied to the purchaser.
If your organistaion is responsible for specifying, purchasing, and supervising the laying of bituminous materials may I suggest you have on your staff engineers and technicians who understand such things, and if you can find one, a real one, a Soils and Materials Engineer.

P.S. I know the layer thickness of the HSCA in the core is thicker than it should be, but this material makes excellent load bearing regulating where needed, hence the increased thickness, actually in a road haunch strengthening, it also compacts well into the sides/edges and corners.
Its called common sense or experience, perhaps I ought to call it innovation, you get more "points".

New Bituminous Surface Skid Resistance Report
During the course of the last week the report, 
"TRL Published Project Report PPR060 - Early Life Skid Resistance of Asphalt Surfaces" 
has been published by the TRL (Transport Research Laboratory).
There is a Press Release relating to the report on the website of the Highways Agency.
You are also able to download an Executive Summary of the report. I have read this summary and felt it did not tell me anymore than I already knew.
While the executive report states that there is not a problem with the bulk of the bituminous mixtures used as surface course, it did suggest/confirm that there may be a problem with some SMA and Thin Surfacings, I think.
I am awaiting my (the "works") copy of the report to study the detail, before making any further observation, may I suggest everybody who has an interest in this matter do the same.
The report only costs £25:00 from the Publications Unit of TRL, and in view of the concern in the industry on this issue I expect it to be a best seller.
If it is not that will tell you something, if after purchasing a copy and studying it you feel you have learnt little, that will also tell you something.
There has already been a suggestion from one of the major local authority engineering journals, that the lack of clarity in the report may disappoint Engineers, and it does suggest that, "councils will have to give more thought to the use of these products, and be able to account for their actions", which seems a pretty sensible comment.  
I hope we can assume the same advice is being given to those bodies that maintain the major road network, as "councils" no longer have responsibility for the motorway and trunk roads, unless the "new proposals" are going to hand back more control to "local people", rather than continue to take it from them. 

And, do not forget that the CSS (County Surveyors Society) published,
CSS Report ENG 1/2003  -  Advice Note for the Specification of Thin Surfacing
way back in July 2003, to assist local councils in the specifying of Thin Surfacings
Copies used to be available, price £5:00 to members and £10:00 to non-members, from :-
CSS Honorary Secretary and Treasurer, 
Lincolnshire County Council, City Hall, LINCOLN, LN1 1DN
Tel. 01522 553098    Fax. 01522 512335

So while you have your cheque book out perhaps you might also like to "splash out" on a copy of this excellent document.

Motto of the Month

"People talking without Speaking, 
 People hearing without listening,
 Fools, Said I, You do not know,
 Silence like a cancer grows."