Road Maintenance Treatments

CSS/ADEPT

QPA and AIA

A5 -A47 Resurfacing

Technical "Stuff"

Respect

Motto of the Month

Introduction

I am a little late in producing this newsletter, I have been waiting for "things" to settle down, but even now there is still almost a week left of January.
There is still plenty of time for another spell of true Winter weather to cause havoc, and for pothole formation and the general failure of road surfaces to continue at an increased pace.

So I am going to say little at this time, if you want to know my opinions of Winter Service provision for 2009/10 re-read the Autumn 2009 newsletter, and the page Road Salt for Winter Service/Maintenance.
For my views of the inability of many  proprietary Thin Surface Course Systems (TSCSs) to cope with a hard winter re-read
last winters newsletter, things are much the same on the A5 adjacent to Hinckley, only worse.

In fact surfacing is taking place on this length of trunk road at the time of writing, overnight, under road closure, i.e. during January. The work does appear to have been performed well, and I find the bituminous mixture employed "interesting".  In my opinion not as good as a hot rolled asphalt (HRA) and precoats but a considerable improvement on the nature of bituminous mixture that has been used to replace the original HRA surface course along this length of road since the mid nineties. However you may like to take a closer look at the nature of the surfacing that is currently being used, in my opinion, quite different to what has been used on previous recent surfacing contracts on this road.

It causes me to ponder that if this bituminous mixture was not a "branded" product with a "certificate" it would not be a permitted material for surfacing motorways and trunk roads, which seems an obvious comment, but it has subtle implications.
(A rose by any other name, and all that.)
I will tell you the thoughts behind my comments later in the newsletter, but an up to date Materials Engineer will be able to explain, if you have one in your organsiation.

This newsletter will take some time to complete, so it will arrive in instalments. I am writing it in this manner because I wish to get one particular item published as soon as possible so that you can avail yourself of a place at the forthcoming conference.
 

Road Maintenance Treatments - Society of Chemical Industry

There is to be a conference on "Road Maintenance Treatments", organised by the Society of Chemical Industry (SOCI)  in conjunction with the Institute of Asphalt (IAT) and the Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers (IHIE).
The conference is to be held on Thursday the 18th. March 2010, from 9:30 to 16:45  at the SOCI Headquarters in London.
A full agenda of this conference, with brief information on the "treatments" that will be discussed, and the speakers who will be presenting the items, can be download in .pdf format from the SOCI website, www.soci.org, and I urge you to visit this website.
However, because the "flyer" for this conference actually requests "Please pass the flyer onto a colleague" I am taking the unusual step of making it possible to download a copy here, for your convenience, in the hope that you will read it, and I fully acknowledge the copyright of this document by the SOCI.

Non members are permitted to apply for admission. "Tickets" I thought were not particularly expensive for a conference with the quality of content and speakers that will be present, so I would apply as soon as you are able if you wish to be present.
My feeling is that it will be a meeting where you will actually learn something not just engage in a lot of "clever" talking.

It is not widely known, outside the industry, of the involvement of the SOCI, which is a registered charity, in the highways maintenance/construction industry, and the promotion of information in this field, primarily in my opinion related to the petrol chemical industry, i.e. bitumen and bituminous products.

While on the website you may like to download the interesting and informative papers that were presented at the "Hot Mix Road Surfacings" conference that was held at the SOCI on Thursday the 15th. of October 2009.
The relevant papers are able to be downloaded in .pdf format, I leave you to find them if you can be bothered. I found them very interesting and informative and well worth the search.
I hope the society will let these papers remain available but I would download them as soon as possible, just in case, I have.)

CSS Rebranding to ADEPT (Association of Directors for Environment Planning and Transportation)

As I understand it this has not yet been finalised, but is likely to go ahead, the details, to date, can be found on the website www.cssnet.org.uk, which I am assuming will have to be changed very soon to complete the birth of the new "society".
This distinct change from CSS which relied heavily on all the good work, and the good name, of the County Surveyors Society is necessary, as the structure of the "society", and the influences within it, has changed completely. The remit of ADEPT being very much wider than that of the County Surveyors Society, so much so that specific involvement in highway matters seems to have been quite limited in my recent reading of what is available on the current website.

However I do like the name ADEPT, as in my dictionary it gives the definition, "proficient in something requiring skill".
I am naive enough and still have enough faith in the industry, well, in local authorities at least, to believe that there are enough like minded highway engineers and technicians who want to see a significant element of ADEPT being dedicated to practical highways maintenance and construction.
If this collective voice does still exist may I suggest that you, directly, communicate your views to ADEPT asking how they see the new "society" responding to this concern. I suggest that you email the secretary, the address being on the website.

As an indication of the work that was carried out, and the publications produced by, the County Surveyors Society/CSS, for general distribution, may I suggest that you visit the current website, and via the "Research" button on the tool bar at the top of the page download (in .pdf format) the list of publications that were produced by the County Surveyors Society/CSS, the list is impressive.
I was fortunate enough to have access to many of these excellent and informative reports in "my" technical library, well the technical library of the Planning and Transportation department that I was part of.
I also got to read many more of them in my career, in draft form, as one "boss" of a number I worked under was a prominent member of the County Surveyors Society and indeed was/is a past president. The draft reports would arrive on my desk with the  request that I study them and make any suitable comments that I thought may be relevant. My notes  would be returned to my County Surveyor, for him to deem them appropriate or not, often just getting a slant of the head and a "twinkle" (those who know him know what I mean) as acknowledgement of my work. The mannerism also asking the question that I was sure that my comments would stand up during any subsequent discussion without causing embarrassment.
This gentleman was a true County Surveyor, a position that is no longer thought relevant, a mistake in my opinion. It is strange how highway networks seem to be of low importance until the road user is not able to travel over them, sometimes not at all, other times without severe inconvenience.

I will mention just four reports as examples of the many published that I think contributed, and could still contribute to the improvement of highways maintenance and construction if their advice is heeded.
These are :-
The Provision of the Soils and Materials Engineers Service ENG/4-94
The Role of the CSS in Determining Engineering Standards ENG/5-94
A Specification for the Provision of the Soils and Materials Specification Service ENG/6-95
Advice Note for the Specification of Thin Surfacing ENG/6-1
My gut feeling is that access to these publications will cease to be available under ADEPT, so I suggest that you download the list as soon as possible.
This list, in my opinion, shows the support that engineers and technicians received once upon a time from a society that truly represented them.
I wish to see the new society provide similar open support to those representing the "customer" in the maintenance of the local  highway network of this country.

My concerns relating to the new "society" are many, and include the actual make up of the members of the society, sponsorship deals by commercial companies, and the form the website will take, i.e. is it just to be a public relations website similar to the websites already produced by their current website designer/host.
So, it is up to you, you may not care, nobody may care, then I, and the people like me, are the ones who are no longer relevant. But if you do care then make you concerns known, directly, to CSS/ADEPT.

I am just a retired, grumpy, old Materials Engineer.
I no longer have to take the flak for failed roads and failed highways services experienced by "Motorway Man" or even "County Highways Man" (my own terminology but equally important when it comes to voting).
But somebody has to take the flak, and I would suggest that there is a considerable amount of flak to take come the next election regarding the fitness of purpose of the highways maintenance industry.
If ADEPT is just to be some sort of secret society for top people to make top decisions only in consultation with other top people then, in my opinion, it has a different purpose to the former County Surveyors Society, and all relationships between the new society and the County Surveyors Society must be concluded.

Some may say that the UK Roads Liason Group is replacing the highway engineering aspects of the CSS/ADEPT, especially as the same people seem to be senior players in both organisations. I hope that this is not so.
I am not convinced that the UK Roads Liason Group is a group that truly represents and supports the views of local authority highway engineers and technicians, rather it is an organisation that wishes to dictate policy to local authorities, elements of which already appear to be lacking in performance. So, I am not prepared to welcome the UKRLG  in the role of directing and supporting highway maintenance and construction practices, as a replacement for the highway engineering element as provided by the County Surveyors Society.

The possibility that a new society be formed specifically for practicing engineers and technicians who maintain local highway networks, and solely reflects their views, should not be ruled out.
In my opinion we may then get some common sense back in the "system", that is if we have any real engineers and technicians left to be part of this new society.
 

QPA (Quarry Products Association) and AIA (Asphalt Industry Alliance)

While on the topic of re-branding of well known, and well regarded, organisations in the highways maintenance and construction industry may I mention another fairly recent change of name and possibly purpose.
This being the demise of the Quarry Products Association (QPA) an organisation that represented the commercial quarrying industry, and at the same time provided a great deal of advice and guidance to practicing engineers and engineering technicians.

Please read the item in the Spring Newsletter 2007, where I made reference to the A4 book, "Bituminous Mixes and Flexible Pavements - An introduction",  that was available from QPA, this being an excellent example of the sort of information that I feel the industry should be providing to practicing engineers and engineering technicians.
I say it was available from the QPA, and it was, but this book was actually produced by BACMI (British Aggregate Construction Materials Industries, which also included the UK Road Bitumen Association) in association with ACMA (Asphalt and Coated Macadam Association). These two organisations combining to become the QPA at around the time of the publication of this book, i.e. around 1992.
I think there is a big clue in the text above as to why there has been, over recent years, such a big change in the naming and nature of the  organisations, and their websites, that represent the commercial side of the highways maintenance industry in the UK.
The clue/s I am referring to are the words "British" and "UK".
It is a fact that there is not one major British owned "aggregates/asphalt" company left in the UK.
They are all multi-national companies that trade globally, so it is their global image that is being promoted, note the word image.
It is possible, and it is only a suggestion, that they are looking for the same strategy to work around the world. I do not think that this is a workable highway engineering option. It is my opinion that you need to employ materials/mixtures that are appropriate for the local highway network conditions, not a proprietary global product, or even a range of proprietary global products, that produce the maximum global profits.
It is likely that a "business manager/accountant" came up with this policy, not a Highways Engineer, and why not, in his business capacity it will be perceived as the correct course of action.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that it is the responsibility of global company to make profit for its shareholders.
But it is also, or it should be, the responsibility of a Highways Engineer, employed by government, or the governments representative, and especially a local authority, to maintain the highway network to the best of his/her ability with the budget available.
The Winter conditions of 2008/09 and this Winter are providing particular evidence that modern "global" bituminous mixtures are not able to cope with the conditions in the UK as well as the tried and tested traditional generic mixtures.
And in my opinion this includes surface dressing which maintains the impervious nature of the road structure, as well as improving the surface texture and skid resistance.

I apologise for that explanatory aside, that includes a bit of history, coupled with some personal views, the apology is not for the content but the interruption in the point being pursued.

The QPA has morphed into, what I would describe a public relations organisation with a website showing what wonderful "green" and eco-friendly places worked out sand and gravel deposits, and quarries, can eventually become.
I say eventually, because there are a few large quarry holes in the area where I live that are being filled with household waste. A profitable opportunity for the quarry owning company, and an entirely necessary process for the community, however it does bring a few problems for those living locally to the quarry.
This straight away seems I am attacking the industry that fed me, I am not, but I do not appreciate all this PR bovine smelly stuff.
In my opinion it is taking the industry out of the realms of reality and into the hands of people who fail to understand and promote the importance of the quarrying and associated asphalt (bituminous mixture) production, dirt and all, for the benefit that it provides in maintaining our highway network in a safe and efficient condition.
This "new" organisation is known as the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and can be found at www.mineralproducts.org.
I urge you to view this site to make up your own mind as to what actual benefit you, as an engineer or technician, receive from your visit.
It appears to me that PR takes precedence on this site, with any possible engineering content relegated to the small print links at the bottom of the scrolled down page.
But what do I know, you may think that a website such as that of the MPA is important to present the industry to the general public, and not to trouble them with the harsh realities that are necessary to be able to maintain their highway network.

But the good news is what the MPA website lacks in content seems to have been replaced by improvements to the website of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, www.asphaltindustryalliance.com, which seems to have far more respect for Highways Engineering.
I hope that you will visit this website as I feel it offers some real, road related, information.
I particularly recommend that you view the collection of videos relating to "building and maintaining asphalt roads".
These video clips provide a concise but fairly comprehensive overview of the use of bituminous mixtures in road pavement construction and maintenance.
Mentioning the following is a risk, but I particularly appreciate the fair crack of the whip in the video footage that hot rolled asphalt and precoats received.
(As you know my favoured bituminous mixture.)
It is a risk as it is likely that somebody from the "marketing" side of the big companies is now going to want the removal of the reference to HRA and precoats.
But from my point of view it gives me greater respect for the AIA for being bold enough to support this premium surface course material.
I would be even more impressed if perhaps they could support these excellent videos, with an up to date reprint of the book I have already mentioned, i.e. "Bituminous Mixes and Flexible Pavements - An introduction", as it is likely that the AIA is the natural successor to the ACMA, the original authors.
Much of the book would need little work, as the content already provides what the inexperienced engineer or engineering technician needs, i.e. good fundamental information on road building.
It covers a very wide range of topics, too many to list, related to its title and that need an understanding by the highways engineer so that he is competent to perform his various tasks.
It even includes sections on the laboratory testing of aggregate, bitumen and bituminous mixtures. A provision that is sadly lacking in most areas of the UK, resulting in young engineers and engineering technicians having little opportunity to gain a real understanding of the nature and properties of the various bituminous mixtures.
It appears a sad fact that if I want to have an intelligent conversation regarding bituminous mixtures, I am usually talking to somebody over the age of 55.
In my opinion this situation needs to be rectified, and quickly, if the good name of British highway engineering is to be maintained around the world.

Where reference to specific bituminous mixtures is required in this re-published volume I would suggest that the "sample" specifications at the back of,
P.D. 6691:2007:Guidance on the use of BS EN 13108 Bituminous mixtures -  Materials specifications
would be more than adequate.

A5 -A47 Dodwells Bridge Island Resurfacing

This to me is a very interesting item, and one that I hope will engage other real highway engineers, and I am going to try and stay off "politics", but a little will creep in, and just talk highway engineering, i.e. bituminous mixtures for road surfacing.
The item will take some time, and I will try to make it as non-technical as I am able, while at the same time providing reference/s where you may find the technical information you need if you wish to investigate what I have written in further detail.
I am going to make use of a large number of images and try and keep the text to a minimum, but in some cases further description is necessary.
This site is the medium size island at the crossing of the A5 and the A47 just south of Hinckley, locally known as Dodwells Bridge Island. It is a very busy island carrying large amounts of traffic both in a North/South direction and a North East/ South West direction, with a high percentage of the traffic being HGV's.

This island, until the resurfacing, had been hot rolled asphalt and precoats, laid between 1992 and 1995. I cannot be specific without looking through my diaries. But I know that a great deal of work was done on this length of the A5 during this period while it was still maintained by the Highways Department of the local County Authority. The work being supervised by the now "disappeared" but highly regarded "Western Division" of the authority, with on site supervision by the "big guy".
So it was between 18 and 15 years old, let us call it 15 years I am not going to argue. This site is a very difficult site with continually "screwing"  wear from the "super single" rear axles of HGVs.
Much of this site, i.e. the surface course material was still in good condition, but there were significant areas of road that had failed due to underlying weakness eventually producing cracking and associated failure in the surface course.
Also in one area of approach to the island, that had received an application of epoxy high friction surfacing, the increased stress from the increased braking force had caused the underlying  surface course to pothole significantly.
I go back to my point that much of the surface course of this island was in good order. But from my past I do understand that once you are committed to the cost of road closures, diversion routes, bringing big plant on to site, e.g. planers, pavers, and not to mention the reduction of future traffic disruption . There is in fact relatively little extra cost to surface the whole site rather than just parts of it, so I am not making any argument that the surfacing of the whole site should not have taken place.
What I am saying quite firmly is that the HRA and precoats surface has performed outstandingly well on this particular heavily stressed site, and I expect any material that replaces it to perform to the same engineering standards.
It is likely that the HRA material was a 35% 14mm. design mixture with a minimum binder content specified by the authority to prevent "too dry" mixtures being supplied. The precoats were 20mm. from a suitable source to comply with the required Polished Stone Value (PSV) and Aggregate Abrasion Value (AAV). The precoats withstood the traffic well, and the site did have significant texture.

The Original Hot Rolled Asphalt and Precoat Surfacing

The image above and to the left is of the start of the new surfacing at this particular access and the surface course prior to this is, i.e. the 15 year old HRA. You have to remember that when the previous surface was laid under the direction of the local authority Engineers there would not have been a distinct boundary between the trunk road and county road network areas of the site. Therefore the surfacing would have been performed according to perceived need not to actual boundaries of networks.
This means we have some existing surface to compare the new surface with, allowing for the fact one is a new surface and one is a fully trafficked surface, but never the less useful information on the nature of different surface course materials.

Note the integrity of the hot rolled asphalt in which the 20mm. precoats are imbedded. This surface course where there is no underlying weakness has, in my opinion, many years of life remaining.  The new "talk" among the quarrying industry is low carbon footprints, whatever they are. Am I "thick", but surely the easiest way to reduce the use of fossil fuels in the highways maintenance industry is to produce durable long life highway pavements, "topped off" with surface courses that are also durable and have a long life. I cannot think of a better material to meet high stress  requirements than the range of generic hot rolled asphalt base, binder course and surface course mixtures that are available. Perhaps highway Authorities and Managing Agents should have a requirement placed upon them that road pavements and road surface courses that they maintain shall have a minimum life, and please do not suggest 5 years, as I do not want to be rude.

The New Surface Course (Stone Mastic Asphalt, and this is where it gets interesting)
In my opinion this surface course bituminous mixture is a 14mm. stone mastic asphalt, and from my observation and experience, a particularly good one.
It not only appears to have ample "mastic" binder binding the larger single size aggregate particles together, it has a good surface texture of the "negative texture" type.
I estimate that the surface texture will be in the 1.5mm. region, by the sand patch method of testing.
I am bound to say I would prefer a HRA and precoat surface course, because I would. In my opinion HRA and precoats is a better surface course material, being more durable and making better use of scarce high PSV aggregate.
But government, in the guise of the Highway Agency, no longer permits the use of HRA and precoats on motorways and trunk roads in England and Wales, ( you can still use it Scotland and Northern Island).
And of course they also do not permit the use of generic stone mastic asphalt on motorways and trunk roads in England.

This information can be found in, Table 2.2E(England), Table 2.2W(Wales), Table 2.2S(Scotland) and 2.2NI_Northern Island)
of, Volume 7 - Pavement Design and Maintenance, Section 5 - Surfacing and Surfacing Materials,
of the, Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. which can be downloaded in .pdf format at, www.standardsforhighways.co.uk

So this bituminous mixture cannot be called SMA, even though it is, it has to be called "Superfragellisticmastic", or some other suitable proprietary  name.
However, I like the bituminous mixture employed as the surface course on this site, and the surface it has produced, and I think the quality of workmanship is excellent.
There was a "sheen" to the newly opened surface and evidence of some very slight binder drainage at the beginning of some rips, but nothing that worried me, and indeed gave me the confidence that the binder content was just right for the particular mixture design, and not lacking.
I am also hoping that at least the full 45mm. that the 35%14mm. HRA would have been laid was planed off, so that there is a "decent" thickness of SMA surface course, which should, all the unknowns being as I hope they are, provide a durable surface course, whose surface characteristics will improve, not they are lacking now.

I would be interested to know the source of the "grit" (passing 2.36mm.) fraction of the aggregate grading that will be contained in the surface mastic, this "grit" being quickly exposed by trafficking, and which will largely determine the early life skid resistance of this material. If supplies where locally sourced, the "grit/fines", which are not usually imported as the coarse aggregate often is, will be of a good PSV, and from some local sources, very good. I use this island a lot, it is only a mile from my home, going round it at permitted driving speeds does not cause me any concerns, and of course this "negatively" textured surface will become a positively textured surface as the surface "mastic" is worn away by trafficking, so texture and skid resistance will improve. In my opinion the practice of applying lose grit to the surface of this material while it is still hot and "tacky" only serves to make the initial surface more slippery, as well as decreasing the initial texture. I am not a supporter of this process, but I do think it is very important to have high PSV grit as pat of the "mastic" in the mixture.

The nature of this new surface reminded me very much of the nature of the stone mastic asphalt material that I tried to obtain for the authority where I was employed, from the mid 90's.
Most times we received such material, occasionally we did not, meaning the binder contents were low and hence the void contents were high, i.e. it was porous, not what a "genuine" SMA should be.
It might be worth mentioning that the specification that was used in our contracts was based on the specification contained in the appendix of,
Trl project report 65 (SMA) - Evaluation of stone mastic asphalt (SMA): A high stability wearing course material
and I mention this because in my recent browsing around the "web" I came upon a reference on the TRL website that this report has been "re-released" with a publishing date of 03/11/2009. It was first published around 1994.
It would be interesting to see if any of the content had changed from the time of the original publication, especially the binder content of the sample specification for 14mm. SMA, which was 6.5% the same as the 10mm. SMA sample specification. The producers always claming that the 6.5% for the 14mm. SMA was a misprint.
But it was the figure that I recommended and there were good local suppliers who could produce excellent 14mm. SMA with this figure as the Target Binder Content, remember there is/was a plus or minus 0.6% tolerance, so if it has a found binder content of 5.9% or above it is in specification.
It was my experience the mixture needed this binder content to be durable, do not forget that in a genuine SMA "the voids in the stone matrix are filled with a mastic", it has an impervious matrix, it will be a "warm" surface course.
I can show you many lengths of early SMA that complied with this specification that are ten years old and above.
I cannot show you any lengths of SMA that had low binder contents. They have either been replaced, or we managed to "rescue" them with an early 6mm. surface dressing. 
Trl project report 65 (SMA) is available in hardcopy at £35:00 and as a pdf. download at £25:00, it has an ISBN of 0968-4093 and the ISSN is also  0968-4093.
I am going to reproduce the TRL summary of this report and in doing so I acknowledge the copyright of the TRL.
"The report describes the evaluation of stone mastic asphalt (SMA). SMA was originally produced in Germany as a proprietary wearing course material, but recognition of its excellent performance led to its standardisation in 1984. SMA has been found to be very deformation resistant due to its stable aggregate skeleton structure. The voids in the stone matrix are filled with a mastic of bitumen/crushed sand/filler to which a stabilising agent, which is normally cellulose fibre, is added to prevent binder drainage. Experience in countries that have adopted SMA has shown it to be very durable. Following a study visit to Germany to gain more information on material design, production and construction practice, a demonstration trial was arranged at TRL to further evaluate the potential of this material. The trial showed that SMA can be designed, produced and laid successfully by UK contractors using existing plant, and demonstrated clearly the feasibility of its use in the UK, Furthermore with careful choice of aggregate size and grading SMA has the potential to meet UK surface texture requirements, to be laid as a thin layer, and it generates less tyre noise. The material could be used in carefully monitored road trials to build up experience before considering it for general use."

I am not a big believer in coincidence, so I believe the re-release of this report now has relevance. It is my opinion it has eventually dawned upon "those in charge" that  "Thin Surface Course System" bituminous mixtures that are full of voids and have little binder content are not durable and are also likely to be contributing to the poor Winter Service scenario.

It seems strange that I am presenting the case for correctly designed, specified, mixed, stored and transported stone mastic asphalt when I would much prefer hot rolled asphalt and precoats.
But if stone mastic asphalt is going to be used on motorways and trunk roads, whatever it may be called, make sure you are getting the "genuine article", i.e. a well designed aggregate structure, the voids filled with mastic, the aggregate both coarse and fines of the correct quality, and a suitable binder, modified only where truly necessary, as some modifiers have been shown to delay the removal of surface binder by traffic.
Just producing "anything" as stone mastic asphalt, whatever it may be called, is only going to result in the same problems that became apparent the first time it was introduced.
And, the only way you are going to confirm that the SMA is as specified is by sampling and testing, this will support the efforts of the suppliers of "genuine" good quality, stone mastic asphalt.
(And, without giving away too many secrets in the "family" closet, those suppliers that did not meet the specification, i.e. the required binder content was too low, did not get paid. Well, not on my watch.)

If you are intending to use a SMA (with a proprietary name) you may wish to be aware of the advice found in,
"Advice Note for the Specification of Thin Surfacing", (Report Eng/2003), published by the CSS.
This advice note can now be found in the recent publication, 
"Best Practice Guidelines for Specification of modern Negative Textured Surfaces (NTS) on Local Authority Highways" 
which is available to be download as a .pdf file on the website, www.roadscodes.org

Abutting old Thin Surface Course System Material, that displays the characteristics of a Porous Asphalt

The image to the left is of the Thin Surface Course System (TSCS) to the North of the resurfaced island. I believe it to be 3 or 4 years old, it is unlikely to be 5 years old. I have been fair and taken a photograph where the surface is in good condition, but you will note it is "dry" and porous, and there is little evidence of the binder fraction of the mixture. If you drive the length of the A5  between Dodwells Bridge and the Higham on the Hill island you will find far too many areas of localised failure attributable to the "dry" nature of these porous TSCS materials. It is usually acknowledged that with this type of material once failure starts it is progressive and swift. You will also find a similar scenario to the south of Dodwells Bridge up to the large M69 island.

Well, I could go on, I am on a roll, but I think that is more than enough to arouse the interest of some, and the anger of others.
I will tell you the fate of the HRA patch on the A5 Nutts Lane Island another time, the tale is equally worthy of its telling, but I think I have reached the boundaries of reader fatigue for this Winter 2009/10 newsletter.

Hinckley has been forecast heavy snow for this afternoon (18-02-2010) so Winter is not over yet, so let us hope that common sense has prevailed by next year and we have realistic Winter Service provision in place.
During my life I have always felt that weather came in trends both hot Summers and cold Winters, meaning that it did not change greatly from one year to the next but progressed slowly in one direction or the other, that is if it did not stay the same.
So, my prediction is that next Winter will be cold, if not as bad as this year, my long term weather prediction skills cannot be any worse than those of  the "Met Office".
However my snowdrops are just about in flower, so I am hoping Spring arrives soon, it has been a long Winter, the Spring flowers will be very welcome.

The better weather will give Contractors an opportunity to perform permanent repairs to our damaged roads, while the Engineers ponder on using more durable bituminous mixtures for future planned surfacing. Budgets permitting of course.
I am hoping that the need to impress the alleged potential election winner  "motorway man" will stave off any swingeing cuts to the highways maintenance budget, well, at least until after the election.
Allegedly the "A5 corridor" is within the domain of "motorway man", interesting.
 

"Technical Stuff" (for those who are interested)

I have made available a specification for a 14mm. Stone Mastic Asphalt Specification, which resulted in complying material being durable and providing initial texture and adequate early life skid resistance.
It is possible that you may need a Materials Engineer to explain how this specification is intended to arrive at an agreed composition/specification.
Many engineers and technicians not familiar with bituminous mixture specifications where often confused into thinking the tables included in the document were the specification, they were not, they were a means of arriving at the required specification.

But note that this form of specifying is now superseded, it will be explained, click here.

I still think the downloadable item is worthy of study to increase understanding, and to demonstrate how a relatively simple document can include what is basically necessary in a successful specification.
In my opinion "specifying" anything is becoming ridiculously complicated and almost impossible to understand, even by competent engineers and technicians.
I do not expect "the suits" to understand the complicated nature of bituminous mixtures , it is an irrelevance to their busy "political" schedules.
But considering the large amount of money that is spent on bituminous mixtures for road surfacing and the repercussions of "getting it wrong", i.e. a far greater number of potholes and surface course failures, when bad weather occurs, I do expect all larger authorities to employ an engineer who does understand.

If I put my "cynical hat" on , and it is not difficult, I sometimes wonder if this confusion relating to recent changes in specifying bituminous mixtures is the intended purpose of the Europe wide specifying of bituminous mixtures, possibly under the influence of the "global" quarrying industry.
It must make it much easier to sell proprietary "Superfragellisticmastic" with a whole two year guarantee, or a five year guarantee when used on motorways and trunk roads.
 

Respect

On Friday the 26th. of February I was very happy to attend the retirement presentation of Martin Blenkinsop (left) and Brian Bunn (right). I cannot remember all the precise details listed by the gentleman giving the presentation. What I do know that both these chaps had a "lifetime" in local government service, with most of it, if not all of it, with Leicestershire. The recent years were spent being responsible for the "hands on" management of the Direct Labour Organisation, (South and North) respectively, more successfully, in my opinion, than some would have preferred. I am not going to say any more, they may not even want to appear in this publication. But perhaps their retirement will not be recorded in other publications, and I could not let them go without some wider recognition of all their efforts. What the other publications may say is that this is an "opportunity" to encompass "new ways" and "new thinking", I am not so sure. I just hope that whoever/whatever takes their place makes the same total contribution to the state of the local highway network and all that it encompasses for the benefit of Leicestershire residents and road users, as they have done. However, I know that they will agree that they did not do it alone, so perhaps this is an opportunity to say a big thank you to all in the "DLO". Good luck to both of you in your retirement and whatever you take on in the future, I am sure it will be just as full as your working life. I cannot imagine either of you "taking it easy".

The inclusion of the  photograph to the right  is just for the sheer fun of it, well there has to be some perks for all the effort put into a newsletter such as this. They are all now gentlemen of leisure, more or less. It was taken at the "Hog Roast" organised for the above retirement function. I have excluded from the photograph those still working, just in case being seen with the "likes" of this group may prejudice their current careers, sorry lads, nothing personal. However if I did want a knowledgeable and qualified "team" to be responsible for the maintenance of a highway network in a satisfactory and cost effective manner I cannot think of a better group of men to do it. But I would say that, would I not, I am one of them. I am not available, I cannot speak for the others, some say that they have "one good project" left in them.

Motto of the Month

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.