Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Faster, cheaper way to maintain road networks

Australia’s road infrastructure is getting older while vehicle and freight traffic is increasing. This combination is putting pressure on road networks and the budgets of every Local Government in Australia.

As a nation, we need to become smarter, wiser and find new ways to maintain the road networks. It needs to be done faster and cheaper while not sacrificing the quality of the repair. With councils continually looking for better work practices and greater efficiencies to stretch the ratepayer’s dollars further, an Australian designed product, the Infrared RoadMASTER (IRMA) heater, is providing the answer for road repair maintenance budgets.

The technology – infrared heat

The Infrared RoadMASTER (IRMA) heater allows the surface to be heated to the same temperature asphalt leaves the plant. At the same time, this process rejuvenates the old asphalt material.

The final outcome is a fully bonded surface between the old and new asphalt with no weak joints. The old asphalt is recycled and rejuvenated insitu and a fully bonded joint between the old and new asphalt is produced providing a permanent repair the first time.

A demonstration using the IRMA heater was recently conducted in Adelaide’s City of Charles Sturt.

“We selected a street in Woodville with crazing and cracks that was allowing water to get through and had numerous loose areas,” said Paul Minks, Council’s Civil Maintenance Team Leader. “Although it was a side street, it does carry quite a bit of traffic.

“Three months down the track it is showing no sign of failing. By using the existing materials on site there is no need to rip up the surface and recycle it. A 50 metres section was completed in half and hour instead of a four to five hour job and only one third of a tonne of bitumen was used. It also does away with various fleet and equipment needed for conventional repairs.”

Other advantages of the IRMA heater include:

• the cost of new material is reduced by 85 per cent
• the cost of running plant machinery is reduced by 30 per cent
• the cost of road patching is reduced by 30 per cent
• repairs are completed six times faster than the current methods
• the cost of road repairs, inconvenience to road users and disturbance to business and householders is reduced
• it is environmentally friendly, recycling existing asphalt and reducing noise, fuel and exhaust emissions.

For further information contact Kevin Witkowski at Laser Marketing Australia on 0412 802 255.

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