In early 2019, an unsealed road in outer suburban Melbourne was going to be subjected to increased traffic volume of up to 3500 VPD. This was required due to the construction of a new estate and the subsequent upgrade of a sealed road leading to it.
An undesirable situation, this would normally not be worth considering without sealing the road, at significant cost, enabling it to handle the volume of traffic, 50 percent of which was heavy trucks.
The road in question was already handling around 700 VPD with 50 percent ‘Heavies’ and had been treated with PolyCom Stabilising Aid which had reduced grading from fortnightly to bi-monthly and saved Council considerable resources already.
Consideration was given to how the road could be modified to take the strain of 3500 VPD using the simplest most economical method.
It was decided to import 10 percent clay from table drains and top up with 10 percent recycled asphalt; then scarify to a depth of 150mm with a grader, water as required, spread PolyCom Stabilising Aid on top, rescarify, then blade mix by grader, lay out water and roll to a finished surface.
The road was then kept damp with a daily watering for three days during which the traffic load increased resulting from the main road’s closure.
After three months of an average 3000 VPD (30 percent ‘Heavy’), the treated road stood up to the traffic load requiring only three very minor touch up grades and weekly watering with a very low concentration of PolyCom treated water.
Council has saved on machinery resources, labour costs, expensive materials and maintained service levels of the detour road.
All parties came out in front with cost saving PolyCom Stabilising Aid.
Find out how PolyCom can be of benefit to you and your sealed and unsealed road networks at roadmaker.com.au or
call 1800 790 907.
*Copy supplied by Earthco
