eNews

Issue 6 - Spring 2012

 

RSTA Members News

Nu-phalt Group - Delivering solutions for urban and rural network repairs!

Nu-phalt has been working with the RSTA’s Thermal Road Repair Sub-Committee on the Code of Practice for Thermal Road Repairs, which is being reviewed with existing guidance on patch repairs, for clause 946; Patching and Repairs to Potholes and Depressions. The document has been peer reviewed by ADEPT and is in the final stages of sign off.

Continued investment has gone into providing a single vehicle solution which delivers a cheaper, permanent, first time, hot patch repair with the added benefit of a seamless joint to negate future water ingress. The system is the only facility to achieve BBA HAPAS certification for both HRA and surface dressing.

Their innovative solution uses a world first ‘NIT’ technology as its heat source, providing an efficient and controllable pulsed heat cycle. The unique heater offers an unparalleled level of control to the defect area, heating the defect material to the point of giving up its strength without damaging or setting it on fire!



The solution is further complimented with the addition of a range of heaters to meet the demands of specific defects. These include the standard 1x1m pothole heater, 2x1m utility track heater, 2x0.5m joint failure heater, 0.5x0.5m pathway heater, and more recently a pole heater designed in partnership with BT Openreach. All heaters utilise the same ‘NIT’ technology offering a market leading 8 minute heat cycle and supported by a single vehicle solution including hot boxes, tanked LPG, heater, standard traffic management and sufficient material and binder for a days’ work.

Jetpatcher

Having successfully secured the European agency for Jetpatcher in late 2011, Nu-phalt has been able to extend its service offering to meet the requirements for both urban and rural networks. Both systems deliver a quick and easy solution, reduce time, raw materials and labour costs, while minimising the disruption and congestion at site.

Jetpatcher Corporation have been manufacturing and exporting their Road Repair technology for over 25 years and have sold in excess of 60 machines to the UK market with over 600 worldwide. The very first UK machines were imported over 15 years ago giving Jetpatcher a long and successful track record in supporting the rural network.



The partnership between Nu-phalt and Jetpatcher is a seamless one, as the entire infrastructure required to deliver, service, maintain and support clients is already in place within the existing Nu-phalt organisation. The Jetpatcher system is no stranger to highways engineers having been tried and tested by councils in the UK for over a decade.

It will come as no surprise that within the first year of operating the Jetpatcher Agency, 2 national tenders have been secured for local authorities; this along with the success of Jetpatcher Contracting has resulted in 7 additional machines being imported.

To continue the policy of independent certification the Jetpatcher system is currently seeking Sector Scheme 13 Accreditation which is the National Highways Sector Schemes integrated management schemes within the ISO 9001 quality framework.

The combination of Nu-phalt and Jetpatcher systems allows local authorities to gain maximum value from their highways budgets and drive cost savings to the network from city streets to country lanes.

Call Nu-Phalt today on 08442 571570 for a FREE, no obligation quote, or email [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

Nu-phalt: Worcestershire Case Study

In Worcestershire during 2009, black top prices began to escalate rapidly. We needed to develop a course of actions that would lessen the dependency of Worcestershire Highways on quarry purchased surfacing material. Members of our team have worked successfully with Nu-phalt on other Term Maintenance contracts and suggested that adopting this process would reduce our need to purchase asphalt for patching and pothole repairs.

Worcestershire had also carried out research into various pothole and patching techniques in collaboration with Staffordshire to produce ‘Project Patch’, which had proven the engineering capabilities of the process. With the confidence we already had in the process, we did not feel that there was any need to conduct a trial and entered into a long term arrangement with Nu-phalt that would complement the range of patching solutions, which were already applied within Worcestershire. These ranged from ‘right first time’ permanent pothole repairs to Jetpatching and on to midi and maxi size patching works.

The process was an immediate success with our client, operatives, councillors and the public. We are achieving high outputs using our well established LEAN approach and delivering high quality repairs, with a neat appearance, an excellent engineering solution, coupled with enhanced public perception.

Nu-phalt is now integrated into the range of solutions we utilise to maintain Worcestershire’s highways. The versatility of the system and the range of heaters available have enabled us to develop a range of repairs that we are able to utilise the system for, including pot holes, iron work problems and joint and fretting defects.

Call Nu-Phalt today on 08442 571570 for a FREE, no obligation quote, or email [email protected] for more information.

Klaruw – 25 years of retexturing in the UK

A visit to the Intertraffic show in Amsterdam in 1985 was to prove a pivotal moment for retexturing in the UK. It was here that Phil Mason, a divisional engineer at the time with Cheshire County Council, saw an innovative bush hammering system made by Dutch company, bv Klaruw Tilburg.

The machine used chisel-like bush hammers to roughen the surface of aggregate, increasing frictional properties and improving skid-resistance. But unlike other retexturing machines, the hammer tips were mounted on a series of independent, floating heads. They were able to rotate, move side to side, as well as adjust position vertically to follow the road surface contour.



Called ‘controlled mechanical retexturing’ by Klaruw, the engineering offered a consistent, adjustable treatment deployed through multiple working heads for fast progress. Not only was it a significant advance on hand-held retexturing equipment, it also pioneered high performance automation of a skid-resistance treatment that could be carried out in virtually any weather.

Mason saw the potential of the versatile treatment for making cost-effective improvements to surface friction on motorway slip roads, bends and approaches to roundabouts. He arranged trials and Klaruw’s process was soon being put to use on Cheshire’s motorways and highways.

In 1986, he was approached by Klaruw to set up a direct contracting operation for its bush hammering process in the UK. For Mason, it was the start of a 25-year vocation to raise the profile of retexturing and embed the many benefits in highways maintenance culture in the UK. He said: “The early machine quickly evolved to achieve the fast progress rates of the current K190, while maintaining quality and proving its effectiveness on a wide range of surface types and condition, from HRA to thin surfacings and even surface dressings.



The introduction of 10 year safety targets in the late 1980s, and heightened awareness of the contribution of road engineering – such as surface skid-resistance - in reducing crash risks, significantly improved the climate for retexturing.



Mason said: “K190’s profile also benefited from influential users who were keen to advocate effective innovations and share good practice with other engineers and LAs. ”A programme of K190 trialling and evaluation instigated by Dick Rainbird MBE of Hertfordshire County Council in 1989 was a major watershed. Skid-resistance values and crash incident statistics before and after treatment were compared for the test sites, demonstrating considerable safety gains, cost savings and Economic Rates of Return (see graph).



Rainbird, the originator of the modern road safety audit, invited other highway engineers to view the K190 process. He said: “Rather than waiting for a resurfacing programme to get to sites with skid-resistance issues, K190 offered a cost-efficient, more immediate solution.”

A major contract in 1997 to retexture the main runway at Heathrow Airport was another milestone, leading to K190’s use at other UK airports.

With the support of a quality-driven team, including long-serving employees like contracts manager, Ged McGhee, who joined in 1989, Mason established Klaruw as a leading authority on retexturing. The company was instrumental in lobbying for formal guidelines for the process in highways standards. The K190 was one of the retexturing systems tested and appraised by the TRL in two landmark reports in 1996. These paved the way for the introduction of retexturing guidelines to the Highways Agency’s DMRB.

Mason retired last December after 25 years at the helm of Widnes-based Klaruw RMS Ltd, although remains a consultant to the business. In this time, he has seen retexturing assume increasing importance in highways asset management by offering a cost-effective, carbon-saving solution for maintaining road safety and extending network life.

Mason said: “Retexturing has come of age in the current climate of cut-backs, and tough safety and carbon reduction targets. As a materials-free process that produces minimal waste and a low carbon footprint, it meets the industry’s current focus on achieving more with less and prolonging pavement life before major intervention.”

Last year, Klaruw won a CIHT regional safety award with A-one+ Integrated Highway Services (a Halcrow/Colas/Costain JV Company). This recognised the safety, cost and carbon reduction benefits from K190 retexturing of almost 85,000 sm of carriageway in Highway Agency MAC Area 10.



Klaruw continues to evolve its concept of ‘controlled mechanical retexturing’ with the launch of new prototypes – the MacroTex (MAT) wet steel shot-blaster, GrooveTex (GRT) and MicroGrooveTex (MGT) diamond grinders, and RotoTex (ROT) flailer. After 25 years in the UK, the company remains committed to advancing retexturing technology in step with the needs of modern, sustainable road maintenance.

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