Highways & Town Centres

The paving joints in highways and town centre roads and pavements, together with those in many other public access paved areas, such as around public transport hubs , all have critical requirements for durable long-term performance in service. If their potential for high durability with good aesthetic appearance is to be maintained without frequent repairs and replacement works, then the Paving Joint Mortars used must be fully resistant to all the different types of traffic loadings and exposure that is anticipated.

In different areas, traffic loadings are obviously variable according to the areas usage and environment, meaning this can vary from pedestrian only areas, through cycles, to cars, including so called ‘sport-utility’ 4 x 4’s, plus the whole range of buses and public service vehicles, as well as the full range and scale of delivery trucks and vans. These include heavy delivery vehicles that can carry up to 40 tonne loads as articulated trucks, such as brewery drays for cask and keg deliveries to venues in town centres, including through older and smaller streets and squares. Many of these town centre roads, pavements and paved areas around public service centre are highly likely to be treated with de-icing salts in winter, and so the paving joint materials must also be fully resistant to these, and the accelerated freeze-thaw reactions they create on the surfaces. The paving joint materials must also be fully resistant to the heavy bristle brushing actions combined with high-pressure, and sometime high temperature, water jet cleaning by mechanical road sweeping machines. Unless we are very early-risers we may not see these often or even realise that they exist, but these highly efficient and effective machines are regularly used in the early hours to keep our town centre as clean and hygienic as possible, despite their heavy use and aggressive exposure.