Cost effective alternative to surface dressing

This narrow street in Bridlington was suffering from severe surface wear and required full-depth resurfacing. Given ongoing pressure on road maintenance budgets the client, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, was looking for a cost-effective pavement solution. The chosen solution not only needed to help minimise direct cost but also extend pavement life to minimise future maintenance requirements to deliver long-term value. An additional challenge was the weather. The work was scheduled for early December and low seasonal temperatures were expected.

After discussions with the local authority client, ULTITHIN, our new ultra-thin surface course was recommended. ULTITHIN is a polymer modified 6mm ultra-thin surface course, suitable for laying on both urban and rural roads. Using high grade aggregates, it delivers outstanding durability with impressive reductions in road noise. Using ULTITHIN enabled value engineering of the pavement design to optimise cost-effectiveness while maintaining or increasing pavement durability. It allowed the depth of the surface course to be reduced with a corresponding increase in the depth of the binder course.

The initial skepticism of the road maintenance team toward using PMB based asphalts completely changed after using ULTITHIN. The product has been designed for enhanced workability to assist compaction and improve finish around areas of detail like ironwork and junctions. Despite the low seasonal temperatures and unexpected delays of several hours in using the material on site, the contract manager was extremely impressed by the workability of the product and the finish that was achieved.