TALKING POINTSecure the competence

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Asphalt and circularity – a good match

SAFETY

My mum and dad work here

INTERVIEW

Pressing for a Danish infrastructure plan

matters 02.19

Highest safety and quality requirements with PMB at Göteborg

Landvetter Airport

Durable take off

nynas.com/bitumenmatters

THE INCREASED FOCUS on sustainable development, both in the general public and within our industries is clear to see and a lot of the articles in this issue relate to this important theme.

Bitumen and asphalt are sustainable materials, one factor being that they are 100 % reusable. The Belgian Rejuvebit

project, which we cover in this issue, is looking at how we can increase the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement.

By using materials that provide a longer technical life you can also improve the sustainable development credentials of a road project, from both an economic and environmental perspective. In our Research section we highlight how a deformation prediction model helped demonstrate the benefit of using polymer- modified bitumen.

In addition to using high-performing materials, long-term planning is crucial in order to get the best value from funding spent on our road networks. The Danish industry association Asfaltindustrien has long stressed the importance of a long-term framework and hopefully this is now close to becoming a reality.

In our Talking Point section, we hear three voices about challenges and initiatives within the area of recruitment. How can we make our industries attractive places to work in the future? Increasing diversity — both in terms of background and gender — is one important step forward. A continued strong focus on the environmental part of sustainable development will also be crucial in order to attract people in the years to come.

We should also communicate more about the fact that what we do is important. Roofing materials protecting our homes and other buildings from the ingress of moisture matter! Well-constructed and well- maintained roads matter, they get us to where we need or want to go — safely! Bitumen matters!

Finally, I want to thank those of you that responded to our reader survey. It was rewarding to see that the magazine is well liked by our readers. Some areas for improvement were also highlighted, and we will be working on those in the months to come.

Enjoy this issue, make sure to visit nynas.com/bitumenmatters for more in-depth material on the topics covered in the magazine and interact with us on the articles as we cover them on LinkedIn!

Johanna AndréassonMARKETING MANAGER NYNAS BITUMEN

06 CASE Maximum stability with a high level of resistance to deformation was the customer’s requirement when the runway at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport was given a new surface course.

08 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Aiming to increase asphalt reuse, the Belgian Rejuvebit project is investigating the technical, economic and ecological impact of bitumen rejuvenation.

10 PROJECTSBitumen Matters continues to describe some interesting projects around Europe, among them the A9 motorway between Berlin and Munich.

12 RESEARCHA new prediction tool for asphalt deformation enabled a group of researchers to quantify the benefit of using polymer modified bitumen (PMB) in asphalt pavements.

13 SAFETYAs traffic volumes increase, efforts are required in order to improve the work environment of road workers.

14 THE INTERVIEWInfrastructure requires significant funding to build and maintain, but it is even more expensive for society to do nothing. This is the view of Anders Hundahl, CEO of Asfaltindustrien.

Bitumen Matters is a freely distributed market magazine published by Nynas AB, PO Box 10700, S-121 29 Stockholm, Sweden. Website: www.nynas.com Project Manager: Eva Näslund Carlsson Editorial Board: Johanna Andréasson, Lars Driske, Jane Dunne, Benny Jandér, Eva Näslund Carlsson, Carl Robertus, Production: Hedengren Media Design: Spektra Printing: Print/R Translation: LanguageWire Cover photo: K-G Z Fougstedt Subscriptions: eva.naslundcarlsson@nynas.com The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Nynas AB.

2 BITUMEN MATTERS

EDITORIAL

Focus on what mattersWelcome back to Bitumen Matters! Hopefully you have been able to take a step away from work during the summer.

Talking point A number of initiatives are needed to attract new groups and in general to increase diversity in the

industry. There is otherwise the risk of a serious skills shortage in the future.

C O N T E N T S # 2 2 0 1 9

P04

V This year’s Argus European Bitumen and Asphalt event, which was held in Athens on 22-23 May, featured key indi viduals from refineries, government agencies and end users of bitumen and asphalt. The speakers included Carl Robertus, Technical & Research Director Nynas Bitumen.

Carl gave an appreciated presentation – “Outlook for bitumen in the construction industry” – which focused on bitumen in the future in terms of availability, quality and sustainability.

“The sustainability aspects I discussed included the importance of the influence of pavement life in reducing the carbon footprint of a road pavement and the role bitumen can play in this,” he says. “Ultimately, choosing the right quality materials for the right job and doing a good job means you’re contributing to reducing the environmental impact of road construction.”

NOTED

BITUMEN MATTERS 3

The world’s total annual production of bitumen. Of this, 85 % is used in road-related applications.

V Eurobitume has been the voice of the European bitumen industry since 1969. The organisation, with its main office in Brussels, aims to promote the efficient, effective and safe use of refined bitumen in road, industrial and building applications. This April, at the Annual General Meeting, Eurobitume members, stakeholders and industry partners gathered to celebrate the 50-year anniversary. This was recognised in a special ‘50 years of Eurobitume and beyond’ seminar, which revisited some key industry milestones and deliverables since its birth 50 years ago to where it is today, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond.

“Looking ahead, we are focussed on helping our members prepare to meet future challenges as the market environment changes. We have already identified ‘Sustain ability and circularity’ as an important theme to understand and align ourselves with. Based on existing facts we want to communicate about the positive contri butions that bitumen can make in this context,” says Eurobitume's Director General Siobhan McKelvey.

Successful 50-year-old looking to the future

KATEPAL IS ONE OF Finland’s leading manufacturers of bitumen-based roofing materials. Founded in 1949, the company offers a wide range of products, all based on SBS-modified bitumen, primarily roof shingles, underlays and membranes. The company exports to about 20 countries.

The partnership between Katepal and Nynas goes back a long way.

“At the start of the season, we must ensure that all bitumen deliveries are on time and that quality is consistently high so that we can maintain a high and constant quality of our products,” says Katepal’s CEO Mikko Pellinen. These are requirements that Nynas has always lived up to.

The jubilee year 2019 also marks the start of several new initiatives, including calculating the carbon footprint of roofing products, the use of solvents and recyclability, thus making a contribution to sustainable development.

“The fact that we’re celebrating 70 years doesn’t mean we’re slowing down – quite the contrary,” continues Mikko Pellinen. “As proof of our continuous commitment to develop the company, we’re in the process of finalising a multimillion investment in our factory, which will further strengthen our position in the bitumen-based roofing segment.” ■

Katepal on the roof

The future role of bitumen

ð More at: nynas.com/bitumenmatters

ð More at: nynas.com/bitumenmattersð Interview with Carl Robertus on nynas.com/bitumenmatters

million tonnes107

nneberg Transport, a haulier with its head office in Denmark, transports products including bitumen and chemicals in large parts of Europe. In recent years we've started to apply

a model based on hiring and training new drivers from all over the world. We’ve also established special drivers’ centres with overnight accommodation, showers, kitchen, leisure department and other facilities in Norway and Denmark, and are also planning a centre in Germany. Higher standards, a good work environment and continuous professional development are every bit as important as wages.

There’s no doubt that it’s become more difficult to find drivers, while at the same time the large group of drivers who joined the profession in the 1970s and 80s is approaching retirement age. There are many reasons for the present situation. In contrast to how things were before, many young people nowadays can’t imagine themselves sitting alone in a truck for a week or more. People are also studying for longer and it’s not perceived as being particularly cool to be a driver compared with, for example, a business developer or a pilot. In short, it must be made more attractive!

s a first step towards a more diverse and inclusive work-force we have set targets for increasing the proportion of female employees within

Aggregate Industries. Currently, women only make up 17 % of our workforce, but by 2020 we hope to have reached 20 % and then 30 % by 2030. Our strategy rests on four pillars that allow us to create opportunities to hire and promote more females. Firstly, we focus on attracting and recruiting more women, for instance, we avoid using male dominated language and images in job adverts, and we aim to end up with at least one female applicant on every shortlist. Next, retention is paramount. For example, women returning from maternity leave need to feel welcomed back, which might include being offered flexible working hours. But it is also important to create a suitable environment, which might

be as simple as having female toilets at our sites.The third pillar is development. We are

working to empower our female staff to take charge of their career so that they can progress within the organisation. All female graduates and apprentices that join us are assigned female mentors to help them to focus on their careers early on. Raising awareness is our final pillar and here we focus mainly on the attitudes of our existing workforce and in particular managers, helping them to embrace diversity. Our aim is to create a level playing field, and we want everyone, both managers and candidates, to approach job vacancies with an open mind.

Although we are starting with women, our long-term goal is to increase diversity all round. This will create a more productive working environment and help overcome issues related to skills shortages within our industry. ■

Joanne Hankinson Title: Senior HR Business Partner,

Inclusion & Diversity LeadCompany: Aggregate Industries

TALKING POINT RECRUITING NEW TALENT

4 BITUMEN MATTERS

“We focus on attracting and recruiting more women”

“ It has to be more attractive to invest in a future as a driver!”

A

Frederik Anneberg Title: Transport Manager and co-ownerCompany: Anneberg Transport

Many haulage companies are opting for a short-term solution by attracting drivers from competitors with higher wages. Anneberg Transport has chosen a different path and is trying instead to encourage more people to join the profession. Competing for the experienced drivers who are left will not cover the shortage of personnel that threatens in the future.

The challenge facing our industry is to think further ahead than we do today and to find solutions that enable drivers to perceive their profession as being just like any other, so that they can be home with their families, if not every day, at least a number of days every week. As an employer, we can’t just demand flexibility, but we must also be prepared to offer it. ■

“ Making sure that we broaden our recruitment is an issue of survival for the industry” Anders Ficks Title: Department Manager, Business Development Company: Svevia, one of the biggest road and civil engineering companies in Sweden

Svevia’s vision is to be the best at building and maintaining roads. To achieve this goal, one of our four focus areas is to make sure that we can recruit competent employees. This is a challenge faced by the industry in general, which is why both joint and individual initiatives are needed.

If we and other actors are to find the employees we need, we must attract new groups. This applies not least to those people who have come to Sweden in recent years. Among these new arrivals there are many who already have the experience we’re looking for, or who may be interested in a professional career in the field of construction and civil engineering.

This is the background to the initiative that the Swedish Transport Administration and Asfaltskolan (Swedish Asphalt Academy) launched a few years ago with the support of the Swedish Public Employment Service. Based on the industry’s description of future competence requirements, the idea is that the Public Employment Service organises basic training (“work on roads”), while the contractors take care of work placements and internal training.

We hope that this collaborative model between the State and the industry will become firmly established, even though the initial phase has moved a little slowly. Svevia has therefore at its own initiative already welcomed people on work placements via the Public Employment Service, and this has enabled us to hire new arrivals in our road surfacing teams.

We’re also trying other ways of encouraging more people to opt for our industry. One example is that we, together with Skanska, NCC and some leading crushing contractors, are behind a vocational higher education course for potential process engineers with a focus on the operation of asphalt plants, asphalt spreaders and crushers.

All initiatives like this are important, and we at Svevia are ready to take the action that is needed. Making sure that we broaden our recruitment base is an issue of survival for the industry. ■ Ph

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THE CASE

Skanska has been renovating large parts of the runway at Göteborg Landvetter Airport. Bitumen Matters was there to experience an intensive night of work as renovations progressed. Photo: K-G Z Fougstedt

PMB takes off

ChallengeV The runway surface course requires renovation while, at the same time, a new ice warning system needs to be installed.

SolutionV The runway comprises three layers. Two binder courses with Nynas Endura Z3 and then TSK 11 bonded with Duraflex as a surface course.

ResultV High friction and maximum stability with high deformation resistance.

BITUMEN MATTERS 7

“This type of work requires extensive planning and differs considerably from other resurfacing projects. In particular, it involves tight timeframes, a large number of work phases and rigorous safety and quality requirements. Everything has to fall into place,” says Tobias Pålsson, Quality Manager for the project at Skanska.

The fact that the work takes place after dark is another challenge, since the first aircraft must be able to take off and land at 6 a.m. In order to prepare for the unexpected, backup plans were drawn up which could be deployed if necessary. For example, there was always a mobile crane on site that could remove machines in case of malfunction.

Skanska began planning for the renovation in October 2018. In addition to coordination meetings with airport management and the company that was installing the new ice warning system, considerable time was spent evaluating different binders.

“We tested several binder grades and asphalt mixtures with most of the available methods,” Pålsson recounts. "All mixture types were tested and evaluated on the basis of the customer’s requirement for a dense and stable surface with a long service life. As this was a costly project involving many parties we really wanted to use the best products."

The extensive renovation was carried out in May and concerned the middle

Resurfacing work at Landvetter Airport was carried out over 19 nights in May 2019.

Skanska evaluated several grades of binder. For the binder course, they used Nynas Endura Z3, which was developed for coatings exposed to particularly high loads.

”We chose a polymer-modified bitumen to ensure the highest

quality renovation.”GÖTEBORG LANDVETTER

Airport was opened in 1977. It is Sweden’s second largest inter-national airport with about 90 direct flights and nearly seven

million passengers per year. The rapid increase in traffic places great demands on the technical performance of the runways, and ongoing improvement measures are carried out according to a carefully prepared maintenance plan.

A few years ago the taxiways were renovated and late this spring it was time to apply a new surface course to parts of the runway. Considering the age of the runways and the need to install transducers for a new ice warning system, the airport owner, the state-owned company Swedavia, decided to replace the underlying layers as well.

section of the runway: a stretch of just over 1,500 m with a width of 40 m — a total of about 67,500 m2. All work was carried out at night using four milling machines, two large paving machines, two shuttle buggies, two asphalt plants, 25 dump trucks and other equipment. Skanska’s workforce amounted to almost 100 people.

”We milled off 120 mm from the existing runway surface and replaced it with new asphalt layers amounting to about 20,000 tons,” Pålsson explains. ”First we applied a 100 mm binder course (AC) in two layers with Nynas Endura Z3 as a binder, and then a 20 mm thin layer as a surface course with our own special emulsion Duraflex, which is also manu factured by Nynas.”

Tobias Pålsson, Skanska

ESTING A VARIETY of different bitumen rejuvenating agents, among them Nygen 910 from Nynas,

the researchers are hoping to enable more reclaimed asphalt to be reused, leading to increased circularity.

“Currently, reclaimed asphalt cannot be used for surface layers in Flemish public road works. It is not considered to provide the right pavement quality. However, we hope to show that reclaimed asphalt can be used successfully in all pavement layers, including the surface layers,” explains Wim Van den bergh, associate professor of infrastructure and asphalt technology at the University of Antwerp.

The reuse of old asphalt material presents a challenge because bitumen oxidises as it ages, becoming harder and more brittle. It is possible to neutralise this higher viscosity by mixing it with soft, virgin bitumen. However, aged bitumen can also be improved by various liquid rejuvenators which counteracts not only the viscosity but also the physico-chemical ageing effects.

The Rejuvebit project combines traditional lab research with a practical feasibility study. Initiated in 2018, the project is evaluating five different types of materials used to rejuvenate the bitumen in reclaimed asphalt. Five different contractors are applying one rejuvenating agent each in test tracks.

“Our idea is to compare the mech anical durability of these test tracks and to analyse the cost-effectiveness as well as the environmental life- cycle for the different mixtures,” says Wim Van den bergh.

Complementary lab tests are used to identify allowable production

8 BITUMEN MATTERS

The Belgian Rejuvebit project is investigating the technical, economic and ecological impact of bitumen rejuvenation.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Road to asphalt circularity

T

The Rejuvebit project is led by Wim Van den bergh at the University of Antwerp in partnership with the Belgian Road Research Centre.

deviations and to obtain more detailed information about what is actually happening in the mixtures, revealing, for instance, how the rejuvenators interact with the aged bitumen. The research results are intended to show the asphalt industry an innovative way forward towards greater sustainability and an increased circular use of asphalt materials.

“However, at the rate new roads are being built and rehabilitated, there will always be a need for new bitumen, especially new engineered and special-ised bitumen to support the process of qualitative asphalt production for future roads,” says Van den bergh.

Nygen 910 from Nynas is one of the rejuvenators that are being tested in the Rejuvebit project.

“The project fits very well with our work on sustainable development. We have grouped products that enable our customers to reduce temperatures, reinforce durability and reuse material, whilst maintaining end product quality, under a concept called ReSolution,” says Hilde Soenen, Bitumen Research Manager, Nynas. ■

The technical requirements of the surfacing material were not the sole challenge; workplace health and safety for employees and third parties has always been a top priority for both Skanska and Landvetter Airport.

IT IS IMPORTANT that the surface course fulfils its function of protecting the base layers from water while simultaneously offering good friction. In addition, it should be quick and easy to replace, thus facilitating maintenance. This explains why, a few years ago, Landvetter opted for a thin layer surface course, after learning of the positive results at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen.

IN THE CASE OF BINDER courses, it has been found beneficial to use a modified binder providing stiffness, such as Nynas Endura Z3 lower down in the structure in order to improve stability.

“Technically, we could have used a standard bitumen (70/100), but we chose a polymer-modified bitumen to ensure the highest quality renovation. It’s important not to forget that asphalt gets very hot in such wide, open spaces, reaching as much as 55 °C in the summer, so a highly modified stiff binder prevents deformation,” Pålsson concludes. ■

Text: Gittan Cedervall

THE MOMENT

BITUMEN MATTERS 9

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5–6 JUNE 2019 BAVENO, ITALYV This summer, one hundred or so users of bitumen for industrial applications gathered in Baveno in Northern Italy to find out about the latest trends in bitumen waterproofing membranes. During the meeting, which was organised by the industry organisation EDANA, discussions touched on subjects ranging from raw material development and new technologies to regulation and environmental opportunities. One of the participants was Wim Teugels, Crude & Feedstock Specialist in Nynas Bitumen. In his presentation, he focused on the fact that European bitumen production capacity has fallen significantly over the last ten years, while at the same time the demands from end users are changing, with an increased focus on specific quality aspects. This means that bitumen is even more of a specialised product than in the past.

INVEST MAINTAIN AND REPAIRBitumen Matters continues its journey around Europe to take a closer look at some interesting projects.

10 BITUMEN MATTERS

STORSTRØM BRIDGE, DENMARKThe Danish State is currently building the new Storstrøm Bridge between Zealand and Falster. The bridge, which is part of the planned Fehmarn Belt link between Denmark and Germany, has a budget of approx. EUR 560 million and will open for traffic in 2022.

When completed, the bridge will be 3.8 km long. It will replace a badly worn bridge dating back to 1937 and will include a two-lane road, two railway lines and access for both cyclists and pedestrians.

“In this ambitious project, we’re not lifting the deck of the bridge with a floating crane, which is the usual method, but with a lift that is fitted to the finished bridge pillars,” says Niels Gottlieb, project manager at the Danish Road Directorate.

When finished, the Storstrøm Bridge will rest on one single line of pillars, giving it a floating architectonic expression. The deck of the bridge will hang from a pylon, which brings together the 40 sloping cables 100 m over the water.

E18, NORWAYAfter two intensive years, the construction company NCC has finished asphalting the 23 km stretch of the E18 between Arendal and Tvedestrand in southern Norway. NCC has laid 300,000 tonnes of asphalt on the new motorway to a depth of 200 mm, including a 45 mm surface course. This means that the project is probably the biggest Nordic asphalting assignment ever.

Nynas supplied all the bitumen for the project, totalling nearly 15,000 tonnes, from its depot in Drammen. Of this, around 2,500 tonnes was Nypol 86, a polymer-modified binder (PMB) with good deformation resistance.

One of the big challenges for NCC was laying such large volumes of asphalt in a relatively short period of time. But, according to District Manager Sigve Andersen, all the logistics worked really well.

“Thanks to early planning and continuous dialogue with Nynas, the haulage contractor Iveland and other parties, we have been able to ensure the successful completion of the project,” he says.

NATIONAL HIGHWAY 26/47, SWEDENSpring 2017 saw the start of the long-awaited improvement project on highway 26/47 near Jönköping in southern Sweden. After intensive surfacing work this summer, the road has now been opened to traffic. This means that the contractor NCC has created a 17 km dual carriageway with a central reservation as well as a completely new road section. The client, the Swedish Transport Administration, hopes that this will reduce the risk of accidents, and also that accessibility will be improved during the winter, particularly for heavy goods traffic.

The pavement is a combination of conventional asphalt mixes and proprietary mixes (NCC Green Asphalt® and NCC Viaco®), with bitumen supplied by Nynas.

“The surface course consists of a tailor-made polymer-modified binder and high-quality stone. We also used the shuttle buggy and a self-adhesive asphalt paver in order to guarantee the best possible result,” says NCC’s Site Manager Eric Svensson.

ð More at: nynas.com/bitumenmatters

E263, ESTONIAThe approx. 200 km long road between Tallinn and Tartu – Estonia’s two biggest cities – is heavily used and also accident-prone. This is the background to the wide-ranging renovation project now under way to widen the road between Kose and Mäo. The road, which is part of the E263, will also have a partly new section, which will reduce the travel time.

When the project, which has a total budget of EUR 170 million, is completed in 2022, almost half the section, or 90 km, between Tallinn and Tartu will have two lanes in each direction. According to the road authority, the positive socioeconomic effects of the renovation, primarily the shorter travel time and fewer accidents, will total around EUR 10 million per year.

BAB 9 MOTORWAY, GERMANYThe A9 motorway (Bundesautobahn 9) runs between Berlin and Munich. After 22 years the sealing of the construction on the viaduct in Lanzendorf in Bavaria had to be renewed, whereby the asphalt concept provided for two layers of mastic asphalt – a protective layer of MA11 S and a wearing course with low-noise mastic asphalt of the type MA8 S. Asphalt laying began in June 2019. The mix was produced by W. Markgraf GmbH & Co KG at the Kulmain site, while the asphalt was paved by Aeschlimann AG using a rail-guided gussasphalt finisher. The high evenness requirements placed on the surface of the

wearing course posed a particular challenge. Therefore, the dimensional inaccuracies of the bridge superstructure had to be compensated by placing mastic asphalt masses on top until the actual mastic asphalt layers could be layed with support from precisely aligned rails. The Premium binder Nynas Endura N5 made an important contribution by providing the predictable, consistent binder properties which made it possible to optimise the mix design. This meant that the required workability and service behaviour of the asphalt could be specifically adjusted.

BITUMEN MATTERS 11

UTTING OF asphalt surfaces is a major traffic safety concern and one

of the main reasons for road maintenance work. Mostly caused by repetitive shear deformations due to traffic, the degree of rutting is influenced by the properties of asphalt mixtures.

“This is especially true at high temperatures and under relatively long loading duration when the properties of the mixtures are dominated by the viscous character of the material,” explains Xiaohu Lu, Senior Technical Specialist at Nynas.

Xiaohu Lu and his colleagues have studied how the use of polymer modified bitumen (PMB) can enhance the resistance to rutting in asphalt pavements.

“We have conducted laboratory investigations on different asphalt mixtures made with a reference conventional bitumen (70/100 pen) and polymer modified bitumen (Nypol 76-28) in terms of resistance to permanent deformation,” says Xiaohu Lu.

A new prediction tool for asphalt deformation, enabled Nynas to quantify the benefit of using polymer modified bitumen (PMB) in asphalt pavements. A reduced rutting rate means less maintenance.

Reducing the rate of rutting

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12 BITUMEN MATTERS

Wheel tracking tests were used to evaluate a dense Swedish asphalt concrete (ABT11) at 60 °C. The scientists were able to demonstrate that with respect to rutting resistance, the asphalt with the polymer modified binder performed almost ten times better than the one with the reference bitumen.

In order to further investigate the asphalt samples, the scientists carried out dynamic shear modulus tests using a wide range of temperatures and loading frequencies. These tests enabled them to work out the viscosities of the asphalt material at maximum phase angles.

That viscosity data is used as a material property input for a newly developed tool for predicting the rutting performance of asphalt pavements (see fact box).

“We observed that the asphalt material with the polymer modified binder displayed more than 20 % higher viscosity than the un-modified one,” says Xiaohu Lu.

The increased viscosity increases the rutting resistance of the asphalt material.

RESEARCH

Wheel tracking tests at 60˚Con asphalt concretes

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V Developed by the Swedish National Road and Transport Institute (VTI) and used in a joint project within the strategic innovation programme InfraSweden2030, PEDRO is short for PErmanent Deformation of asphalt layers for ROads. It is a model that can be used as a tool for predicting the rutting performance of asphalt pavements.

Contrary to other similar models, PEDRO uses two separate components – volume and shape or shear – to predict the effect of the post-compaction or volume change and shear flow in the bituminous mixture. The material properties used as input for the PEDRO model include asphalt viscosity at maximum phase angle. This enabled the Nynas team to quantify the effect of new materials, such as polymer modified bitumen.

PEDRO predicts the rutting

“By inputting our results in the prediction model, we could predict that a road section with PMB shows about 20 % less deformation compared with a section made with unmodified binder”.

In other words this means that if a section of road paved with asphalt made with PMB needs maintenance work to be carried out after a period of

20 years, a reference section of asphalt made with an unmodi-fied binder would need to be maintained four years earlier, after about 16 years of use.

“This is a significant differ-ence,” says Xiaohu Lu. “Not only is it significant in terms of the costs involved, it will also benefit the environment as it promotes a more sustainable use of materials and energy.” ■

Xiaohu Lu, started at Nynas in 2002. He joined Nynas then from a post as senior lecturer at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he had previously obtained his doctorate in the area of Road Technology. In his role as Senior Technical Specialist, Xiaohu Lu is in charge of several Nynas R&D projects in the areas of bitumen and bituminous materials.

Text: Gittan Cedervall

70/100 Nypol 76-28

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BITUMEN MATTERS 13

what is actually required for asphalt to be able withstand the stresses to which it is subjected when aircraft are taking off and landing in rapid succession, all year round? On our microsite you can see a video from this summer’s surfacing work at Gothenburg’s Landvetter Airport – and plenty of other news from the industry.

Feel free to visit nynas.com/bitumenmatters

Did you know…

SAFETY

HE STATISTICS speak for themselves: European roads are the safest in

the world. Furthermore, the long-term trend is positive – traffic-related deaths in the EU have more than halved since 2001. But there are exceptions to the rule. If we look specifically at the situation for road workers, it has actually become worse in many countries. In the UK, for example, almost 300 incidents are reported every week, ranging from drivers who drive into the area where road workers are present to physical and verbal attacks.

So, what is required to reverse this negative trend?The UK industry organisation Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA) has a number of long-term guidance documents to achieve the goal of “zero injuries, zero fatali-ties”. These include reducing the exposure of road workers

Risky businessAs traffic volumes increase, efforts are required in order to improve the work environment of road workers.

Tto traffic, raising public awareness of the importance of road workers and their safety, and changing the behaviour of road users through improved driver education.

The Swedish Transport Administration is also putting a lot of focus on safety in connection with roadworks. For example, new rules have been drawn up that are better adapted for procurement processes than before. This means that it must be possible for all requirements for traffic and safety devices to be priced and included in tenders. This reduces the risk that safety is given a lower priority in a tough competition situation.

One increasingly common way of raising awareness among road users is to carry out campaigns on the theme of ‘My mum and dad work here’. This is taking place in many European countries, including Denmark.

“There’s a major need for such campaigns. People are

stressed in everyday life, they are more irritated and think that those of us working on the roads are the cause of their delay. This is why they drive too fast, sound their horns, wind down their windows and yell at us,” says Keld Plovst from the contractor Pankas to newsbreak.dk.

The Finnish sectoral organisation Infra Ry has also launched campaigns on the same topic.

If we look outside Europe, Australia is one country where the industry has been active in launching campaigns for increased safety at roadworks. One of the central messages is about creating an under-standing that it is the job of road workers to make life easier for road users, not to create an obstacle. ■

ð Check out videos from some of these campaigns on nynas.com/bitumenmatters

It is important to both warn and guide road users in order that road workers can have a safe work environment.

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PLANNING AHEAD

NEW GOVERNMENT took over in Denmark this June, and a ten-year infrastructure plan appears to be on the way. The plan is expected

to include a number of wide-ranging road projects that aim to improve the road network through Jutland and the main Danish islands.

The projects include a number of strategically important sections of motorway, which will make Denmark better connected, as well as improving the connection between Scandinavia, Germany and Europe and preventing queues and waiting times in Denmark.

“I expect to see an infrastructure plan, with a funding budget of at least EUR 10 billion, which will last until 2030.

The civil engineering industry is pressing for a new Danish infrastructure plan. Many major projects, which will benefit both Denmark and Europe, are dependant on such a plan. Anders Hundahl explains more.

Text: Mette Bender Photo: Asfaltindustrien

INTERVIEW

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BITUMEN MATTERS 15

Denmark needs to plan investments in the transport network in the longer term, like Norway and Sweden do. This is significant for Denmark as a society, but also for the Europe of which we are a part.”

These are the words of Anders Hundahl, who has spent ten years working purpose-fully on long-term Danish infrastructure plans in his role as CEO of the industry association Asfaltindustrien. He views good infrastructure and good roads as an important element of growth and connectivity.

“In the cities we can use the metro. Between the major European cities we can fly, sail or take the train, but the roads are still the primary form of transport in the many expansive areas of the country here in Denmark and in other European

countries. It’s all about connecting our society. This is why roads must be prioritised.”

Anders Hundahl points out that infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain, but it is more expensive to do nothing. Good infrastructure lays the foundation for growth, and roads with potholes are two to three times as expensive to maintain. A plan that brings everything together will combat delays and result in greater predictability for asphalt producers, suppliers and not least of all employees, while at the same time benefiting the climate.

“Our industry looks after a group of asphalt workers, who with long-term planning can better maintain their foothold in the labour market. It makes better economic sense for us and for society to train them when we know the level of activity and employment for a number of years into the future. At the same time we avoid the stop-and-go policy that is so senseless and expensive in rela-tion to machines and factories.”

PUBLIC TRANSPORT is also expected to get a boost under the new government. Furthermore, Anders Hundahl believes more money to be allocated to the fund that supports noise-reducing measures on national roads.

“We're working really hard to prevent the plan from being delayed because the

new government, for natural reasons, wishes to discuss it with its parliamentary base. Denmark has the money, and roads have to be built under all circumstances.”

Net sales of asphalt and thereby bitumen fell in Denmark in 2018 compared with 2017. Fortunately, the slight increase in municipal investments is supporting the market. The private market for asphalt is also growing.

“We’re also hoping for progress in the products for the reuse of asphalt, pavements with low rolling resistance and pavements designed with wet weather protection. Road asphalt is an important part of the solution to the climate challenges,” says Anders Hundahl. ■

Here are some of the Danish civil engineering projects that are expected to be included in a future infrastructure plan:

■ Extension of the Hillerød motorway■ Completion of the Frederikssund

motorway■ Expansion of the Funen motorway■ A third Limfjord connection■ Expansion of the E45 down

through Jutland

Major Danish projects on the way

Anders Hundahl CEO Asfaltindustrien

“Infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain, but it is more

expensive to do nothing.”

Anders Hundahl is CEO of Asfaltindustrien, a post he has held for ten years. Asfaltindustrien is an important industry organisation that works in a strategic, targeted way to achieve better roads and infrastructure in Denmark.

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