Graphene reinforced asphalt to combat potholes?

[Dogtrousers]

Costs an additional £2.50/sq metre

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2068k7851ro

Essex Highways, the highways authority for Essex County Council, installed hot rolled asphalt enhanced with graphene, the strongest substance ever recorded, on part of the A1016 in Chelmsford in 2022.

Although more expensive than standard hot rolled asphalt, tests have shown it is more resistant to weather and traffic.

Incidentally, the guy interviewed is called Mr Goosey. I wonder if he has a daughter named Lucy?

 

[ColinJ]

Costs an additional £2.50/sq metre

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2068k7851ro

Essex Highways, the highways authority for Essex County Council, installed hot rolled asphalt enhanced with graphene, the strongest substance ever recorded, on part of the A1016 in Chelmsford in 2022.

Although more expensive than standard hot rolled asphalt, tests have shown it is more resistant to weather and traffic.

It is perfectly possible to repair potholes properly with normal asphalt, as I pointed out recently.

It is now 17 years later. The repair was done so well that, for a change, the hole never reappeared.

 

[Alex321]

Interesting. But saying it costs £2.50 more per sq meter doesn't mean much without the context of what proportion of the total that is, which they don't give.

If it normally costs £100 per sq meter, then an extra £2.50 is hardly anything, but if it normally costs £10, it is a big chunk extra. It is difficult to find costs, but I think it will be closer to the £100 than £10.

 

[biking_fox]

We made this fabulous stuff. It has to be useful for something..... well we can always use it on the roads.

 

[PaulSB]

To my mind there are two related issues, one of which this may be relevant to.

1. Here in Lancashire, probably in common with every other county, we have many, many miles of road where the road surface has deteriorated to such an extent the only real solution is to resurface the road. No amount of patching will provide a longterm solution whether it's in the latest low cost** super material or not

2. Where there is a decent road surface with the occasional pothole this type of product may well have its use if properly laid to prevent the surface breaking up.

** by low cost I mean anything which is cheaper than complete resurfacing. The harsh reality is no amount of pothole filling with the latest super product will provide a longterm solution. Complete resurfacing to a proper standard is the answer.......but we don't have the money for that and will continue with the false economy of short-term repair. Only £2.50 more is totally irrelevant to the problem.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Thar article describes this as a resurfacing method that doesn't suffer from potholes, rather than a pothole mending method.

 

[lazybloke]

They could use all the fancy materials in the world, but I suspect they'd still #### up the repair with shoddy workmanship.

The French seem to be capable of much better roads, using traditional methods. I'd like to see some cost comparisons for different classes of road (over say, a decade or two).

 

[figbat]

Thar article describes this as a resurfacing method that doesn't suffer from potholes, rather than a pothole mending method.

Given that they also describe graphene as “the strongest substance ever recorded”, one wonders how they will deal with future roadworks for installing or repairing utilities and such?

I also question the “strength” assertion - graphene is only monolayered graphite; it does indeed have an incredible tensile strength but is brittle, so whilst the claim may be technically true, is it actually relevant to how it is used in road surfaces?

 

[Drago]

Surely it's not the material per se that is the issue, but the liquid that forms the matrix? The hot stuff they use on new roads and proper repairs is lovely, but the cold set rubbish the man with the bucket uses to fill potholes is a waste of time.

They already have appropriate materials and techniques, but the highways departments need to maximise shareholder value means they don't have the will to deploy them.

 

[lazybloke]

The hot stuff they use on new roads and proper repairs is lovely,

But even then they screw it up; often it fails to adhere sufficiently, and new pristine surfaces crumble prematurely.

The ever increasing weight of cars must also be a factor, or to put that another way, the materials, preparation and method for road repairs aren't fit for purpose.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

This reminds me of when they were making repairs to the Pennine Way on Bleaklow in the 1980s. They claimed they had a new wonder material, proven in Sweden, and would last 40 years. The new wonder material path didn’t even last a year, before it sank into the peat bog never to be seen again.

 

[Drago]

But even then they screw it up; often it fails to adhere sufficiently, and new pristine surfaces crumble prematurely.

Indeed. Sufficient preparation is whats lacking there. Removing loose material, digging out to form a solid edge, even drying g the bummen hole out before filling it are adds that seem beyond the wit of some highway authorities.

The ever increasing weight of cars must also be a factor, or to put that another way, the materials, preparation and method for road repairs aren't fit for purpose.

Although with increasing weight were seeing increasing footprint size as these big vehicles sprout ever phatter and larger diameter rubber, so the ground pressure between a small car and a large one isnt markedly different. One has to get into the realms of proper size lorries, 17.5 tonne class and up, before the difference in damage/wear levels per thousand vehicles becomes notable. Of course, we're all responsible for that indirectly as we orde more and more cheap rubbish thwt gets delivered by road.

 

[Psamathe]

I wonder what the constraints and limits on the stuff are and whether Highways will actually follow those.

Highways spend a lot of time/money surface dressing many of the single track lanes round me and it doesn't last a few weeks. Some years back on a ride I stopped and chatted to the team who were in the process of surface dressing such a lane and I commented "bet I'll be reporting potholes next month" to which they said "you won't have to wait that long". They were saying it's a complete waste of time surface dressing these roads because they aren't roads but old farm tracks with some tarmac thrown on top. But they added that keeps them in work, keeps company profitable and they don't mind being paid to waste their time. They were right, less than 2 weeks later potholes were back.

 

[cyberknight]

I wonder if these potholes filled with this wonder stuff would cause issues as the normal road surface around it crumbles as its not as strong , a bit like the potholes you get around speed bumps ?

 

[Alex321]

I wonder if these potholes filled with this wonder stuff would cause issues as the normal road surface around it crumbles as its not as strong , a bit like the potholes you get around speed bumps ?

Doesn't even need to be the "wonder stuff". There was a pothole at the top of a short hil I ride up regularly as it is on the back road home from Cowbridge direction.

It was filled with tarmac, and within a few weeks, a new pothole was developing where you came off the filled surface to the old one. They filled that, and again within a few weeks, a new hole was developing at the new edge. They haven't filled that yet.