TOPICS
Deafening Silence
Motto
of the Month
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Introduction
This newsletter is
issue twelve, so a whole year has passed. almost, since the first copy
was penned and I really do not know where the time has gone.
I hope that, for those who have read these notes, they have provided a
source of subjects that have prompted you to seek further information
into areas of highways maintenance knowledge that you may not have
otherwise explored.
I will continue to write about topics of interest relating to the
industry we work in as and when I have something to contribute, or to
make you aware of worthwhile contributions presented elsewhere.
Deafening
Silence
It appears to me that we
have deafening silences on a number of important topics that have
presented themselves within the highways maintenance and construction industry over the
last few years.
Such topics of
interest include :-
- The
performance of Thin Surfacings (the ones that are actually thin)
- The
performance of high modulus bases and binder courses (roadbases
and basecourses)
- Early life
skid resistance performance of Stone Mastic Asphalts
- Proposals
for increased strength/durability of road pavement design in view
of increased use of "Super Single" wheels replacing twin
wheel configurations.
The
silence is not totally deafening and may I again point you in the
direction of,
TRL
Report 456 : Development of a high performance-based surfacing
specification for high performance asphalt pavements
and
TRL Report 367 : High and low speed skidding resistance : the influence of texture.
These
reports are not expensive considering the information you will obtain
relative to designing road pavements with super single wheels in mind,
and road surface friction.
It is my opinion that you can no longer rely on mainstream monthly and
weekly technical journals to provide you with enough information on
particular industry topics, you must keep yourself up to date by being
aware of what is being published by ALL sources, and this is
where the "web" is particularly helpful.
The search engine I find particularly useful on technical topics is www.google.com,
if you are not already aware of it.
I know that thorough investigation
of any highway problem takes time, so that all aspects relative to a
particular circumstance can be considered, but often there are some
fundamental conclusions that can be drawn quite quickly on these subjects
and published, especially if Q.A. and trace ability are in place as is
claimed with many of these products and processes.
What I also find disturbing with the growing situation where one consultancy
represents many clients is that problems no longer seem to be discussed
openly amongst engineers and technicians employed in local authority
work. This reticence to discuss matters openly is often claimed to be
necessary because the problems are considered "commercially sensitive".
By this I mean there may be engineers and technicians aware of
problems and even solutions but it would not be to the financial
advantage of the employing company, or their client, to let the
industry in general know about this information.
The silence from industry and official sources seems to me to be equally
deafening on many current matters presenting themselves to the
highways maintenance and construction industry, and in the long term I
do not believe this is to the advantage of anybody, except maybe the lawyers.
Motto of the Month
"Take care
of each small problem as it arises and you will usually find a big
problem will not develop"
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