Orlen Asfalt is conducting research work on improving the quality of local roads in Poland. The proposed solutions can reduce the maintenance costs of roads with light and medium traffic and reduce the environmental impact. The pavement designs will be tested.

According to Orlen Asfalt, the concept of the new solutions is based on the assumption that with the use of highly modified asphalts and modern mineral-asphalt mixtures it is possible to make thinner layers of the road surface. This means less asphalt and aggregates used and lower production and transport costs for these products.

A road built in this way could easily be reinforced with successive layers as traffic loads increase. The new proposals in terms of technology and layer thickness would ensure an improvement in road quality, while potentially reducing the cost of road construction

“The pavement structures prepared by Orlen Asfalt will now be tested as part of the Innovative Local Government Roads programme, an initiative in which the company’s experts advise local governments on implementing the latest road construction methods and improving road quality,” says the company.

Orlen Asphalt’s CEO Paweł Wachnik recalled that district and commune roads, crucial from the point of view of local communities, account for almost 90 per cent of the total length of all roads in Poland. He added that the company is already working on solutions to make local roads more durable and, at the same time, to generate savings in the consumption of raw materials, fuels and energy, starting in 2019.

“The latter two aspects are particularly important at present due to the dynamically changing economic realities of road construction and maintenance, noted Wachnik.

Orlen Asfalt is an Orlen Group entity and one of Central Europe’s largest suppliers of asphalt binder used in pavement production.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński