Rehabilitation of concrete roads to reduce ongoing maintenance
The Problem
It used to be common practice to overlay concrete estate roads with Microasphalt and other bituminous surfacing products.
Years later, this solution has left authorities with two problems:
- The aesthetics of the now patchy finish, with open joints, and the regular occurrence of worn-off areas of blacktop, exposing concrete patches.
- The high cost of the ongoing maintenance liability in keeping the highway free of potholes, trip hazards, and maintaining a safe running surface in a residential environment.
The Solution
To reduce the ongoing maintenance liability, Local Authorities are re-exposing the old concrete surface with the addition of some tried and tested repair methods.
Due to the invention of micro planing heads on Wirtgen road planers, old smooth concrete can be retextured with a fine milling drum to give a skid resistant finish.
As a result, concrete rehabilitation is now an effective way of treating these sites to reduce the ongoing maintenance costs of looking after these roads.
Smaller planers are then used to pick up the detail around kerb lines and bell mouths.
Firstly the remaining asphalt is planed off from the road surface and then a fine milling planing drum cuts a textured surface into the concrete.
Finally, blacktop patches and asphalt bay replacements are treated with a concrete coloured surface screed to compliment the surroundings.
The finished job.