Asphalt preservation is to be applied to Blackpool’s roads for the first time to help keep them in better condition for longer.
The project will see Rhinophalt, the market leading BBA HAPAS certified asphalt preservation product supplied by ASI Solutions, applied to nearly 10km of Blackpool’s network in year one alone as part of a four-year framework project that will see the council use a range of surface treatments on sections of its strategic road network.
This comes also as part of Project Amber-a Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) Initiative-led by Blackpool Council. Blackpool Council launched Project Amber to trial a collaborative approach to delivering works using new materials and processes upon their network, by trusting suppliers with identifying repairs and delivering solutions with a view to reducing costs and increasing innovation. This was delivered working closely with the members of the Local Council Road Innovation Group (LCRIG), that includes ASI Solutions.
A trial in 2019 was the first time Blackpool had used a surface treatment such as Rhinophalt. A section of network was chosen, and the works undertaken overnight.
“The scheme ran well and whilst the scheme was undertaken at the end of the season the results were excellent. Drying times were key and whilst on paper the window for the closure to traffic was expected to be in excess of two hours (September at night with lower temps) it was in fact less than that and that enabled us to undertake the ancillary work of carriage way markings sooner than anticipated,” said Ian Large, Performance Manager for Highways and Traffic at Blackpool Council.
In year one of Project Amber, contractor RMS will apply Rhinophalt to one of Blackpool’s most heavily-used roads-the Promenade.
The Promenade is strategically important to the town and undertakes a whole host of work carrying huge volumes of traffic and also supporting the numerous events Blackpool is famous for. Further linked network sections, Squires Gate Lane and Progress Way will also be subject to preservation treatment. These networks sections are at the South end of the town, where they serve a large retail park and the airport. It is also the primary route / link from the motorway to the south and carries significant volumes of traffic.
“Using surface preservation treatments, products designed to slow the asphalt ageing process, to seal the surface and extend their life of the surface course, fits in with a good asset management strategy. Intervening at an appropriate stage in the life of a carriageway surface will extend is serviceability and help negate its deterioration. Slow its aging process and stop its fall into a rapid decline from surface defects brought on by oxidisation of the surface and a failure of that hard-working surface course,” adds Mr Large.
“Rhinophalt has a history of successful use on high trafficked highways, it is has been available as a surface treatment and used for a number of years, because of that It has a number of properties that make it suitable for Blackpool’s network, its workability, its speed of delivery, make it ideal for busy networks.”
The product carries not only a BBA HAPAS certificate but also a UKCA/CE marking, demonstrating its consistent product quality and delivery whenever it is applied. ASI Solutions has an exclusive global licence with Asphalt Systems Inc in the US to operate the Rhinophalt technology exclusively around the world.
Rhinophalt can double the asphalt surface course service life of a road for half the cost compared to resurfacing, therefore reducing the demand for reactive maintenance, with fewer potholes and less claims. It preserves, protects and extends the life of the asphalt infrastructure and is proven to withstand all extreme weather conditions. It is the only BBA HAPAS asphalt preservation product that contains Gilsonite which is a natural bitumen and anti-oxidant. As well as all types of roads, including the M40, Rhinophalt has also been successfully applied to bridges, airports and test tracks, with 20 million m2 treated around the world.
Local authorities and road operators are also now benefitting from an improved continuity of supply of the market leading BBA HAPAS certified asphalt preservation product Rhinophalt, as a result of ASI Solutions signing a new exclusive agreement with Jobling Purser to supply it globally.
