A606, Rutland County Council The sustainable recycled road asphalt solution

Tarmac were approached by RCC after it was discovered that carriageway edging on two stretches of the A606 road in the Oakham area were failing and required reconstruction. Hazardous levels of tar were found in the surface material which meant that over 1750 tons of road surface had to be removed and replaced.

Tarmac’s focus was to recommend a solution that delivered sustainable performance and cost savings to the client. As a result ULTIFOAM was put forward for its sustainability credentials – an alternative to hot asphalt materials, combining proven foamed bitumen technology with cold production and paving. A mobile plant was subsequently erected where the tar bound planings could be sent for reprocessing, then sent back out to site and re-used in the haunch of the roads before being re-laid with conventional material. This in itself offered a significant sustainability and cost benefit to the client.

To have taken 1750 tonnes of tar bound planings to skip would have cost RCC over £400k from the outset. In addition to this the nearest tip would have been 154 miles away and would have required over 100 lorry movements to drop off all of the obsolete material. Due to the ULTIFOAM site being situated a mere 20 miles from the works site, approximately 15,000 miles were saved which impacted heavily on time, cost and carbon savings in relation to the project.

Finally, by having the ability to recycle the planings and re-apply it using ULTIFOAM in the roadbase, a further significant cost saving was made through not having to purchase and apply 1750 tonnes of the standard dense bound macadam (DBM)

“The ULTIFOAM supplied and installed by Tarmac was ideal for this scheme. Significant cost savings were made versus using a traditional approach, and we now have a long lasting and sustainable solution in place.”Rutland County Council