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| Asphalt | ||||||||||||||||||||||
To access guidance on the application of asphalt click here. As the surface for some 95 per cent of our roads - as well for playgrounds, footways, car and lorry parking areas, airport runways and much more - it is uniquely versatile. The asphalt industry produces approximately 25 million tonnes of asphalt every year. While strength comes from the aggregates, the binding agent is normally an oil-based bitumen derived from crude oil. The composition is varied to suit the end use. Asphalt materials have evolved in a variety of ways over the years, but the pace of product development over recent years has been rapid. A new generation of modern asphalts offers a range of important properties that improve road safety, maximise road life and reduce maintenance. Benefits include:
Production: Asphalt plants are often situated in quarries but they may occasionally be 'satellite' plants in urban locations to serve a specific local market, or even temporary installations on a major road or airfield site. The production process involves blending the aggregates and then heating them to a temperature suitable for coating with the bitumen binder. For further information contact MPA's Malcolm Simms. Information service: MPA provides information and guidance on asphalt products through
the Asphalt Information Service which is contactable via the main
MPA telephone no: Click here to download asphalt guidance:
The Asphalt Information Service can provide on request a list of depots of MPA members that undertake asphalt contracting throughout the country. Requests should be made to the telephone number or email address above. The impact of Europe: Probably the most important change facing the UK asphalt industry and its customers in recent years has been the implementation of European Specifications for asphalt, its constituents, and methods of testing. This implementation process will be completed in the UK for the beginning of 2008. This process began on 1 January 2002 with introduction of the European specification for road bitumens (BS EN 12591) which introduced changes to the available bitumen grades and grade references. A guidance note on this was prepared at the time. To download a copy, click here. The aggregates used in asphalt have also come under the scope of European Standards (from 1 January 2004), and in order to accommodate those changes at that time, it was necessary to change the material descriptions for the British Standard asphalts and macadams. In addition, the Highways Agency's Specification for Highway Works (published by The Stationery Office www.tso.co.uk) has also adopted these and other consequent changes (see www.highways.gov.uk for contact details for HA). General guidance on European Standards for aggregates for asphalt can be found here. As far as asphalt is concerned, the family of test methods (EN 12697 series) for asphalt have been published as well as the various asphalt mix specifications and conformity assessment procedures (EN 13108 series) . It became a requirement for all EU states to implement the whole package of standards and withdraw all conflicting national standards on 1 January 2008. In the UK, this means that BS594, BS4987 and parts of BS598 were all withdrawn and replaced by the European Standards. In the case of the asphalt mix specifications, these are substantially different in approach and detail to the traditional BSs that we were used to working with, although there will be little, if any, change to the traditional mix compositions that have been used to date. BSI has published a National Guidance Document BD6691 to interpret the requirements of the EN13108 series for implementation in the UK - along with PD6692 for asphalt test methods and BS594987 for installation of asphalt (to replace the Part 2s of BS594 and BS4987). Guidance on how the new Standards should be implemented in the UK has also been produced and this is available for download from the table below, Bulletin 1 was published in June 2006, Bulletins 2 and 3 in July/August 2007.
Partnerships: The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), is a promotional body formed through partnership between MPA and the Refined Bitumen Association (www.bitumenuk.com). AIA's promotional activity is very important on the sector Agenda. More information on the work of AIA can be found at www.asphaltindustryalliance.com. Asphalt Conference MPA Asphalt continues the long tradition of organising conferences in its own right and under the AIA Banner. This Conference attracts the support of major industry client bodies, namely the Highways Agency (HA) and Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT, formerly CSS),as well as the Chartered Institute of Highway and Transportation (CIHT) and the Institutes of Asphalt Technology (IAT) and Highways Engineers (IHE) and since 2008 has been kindly sponsored by Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
MPA is a founder-member of the European Asphalt Pavement Association, whose own website can be accessed at www.eapa.org. In a similar fashion to that in which MPA liaises on UK issues, so does EAPA with other European bodies. One important link at the European level is with Eurobitume (www.eurobitume.eu), which results in the 4-yearly Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress , the next to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on 13 to 15 June 2012. Please note this website is maintained to provide information and guidance on UK issues, products and applications of those products. |
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Asphalt
keeps our feet (and wheels) safely on the ground.
MPA is a founder-member of the European Asphalt Pavement Association, whose own website can be accessed at www.eapa.org For more information on asphalt, please contact Malcolm Simms - malcolm.simms@mineralproducts.org, or phone us on 020 7963 8000 |
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