Foambase is applied cold and recycles the existing aggregate on site, generating half the carbon emissions of traditional methods.
Foamed bitumen, which has been around since the 1950s, is made by adding small amounts of water to hot bitumen. The water flashes into steam, atomising the bitumen which foams up, expanding up to 30 times its original volume. The idea of using it to bind cold recycled material in road construction was developed more recently by materials specialist OCL Regeneration of Rochester, Kent.
VolkerHighways has never used Foambase before but in Chelwood it is resurfacing 22,450 sqm of carriageway on the A368 at Chelwood (that’s roughly three football pitches). The project will replace more than 1,500 tonnes of traditional hot asphalt with OCL’s Foambase material, cutting 28,500 kg of CO2 emissions.
The resurfacing works started on Monday 20th June and run for two weeks.
Councillor David Wood, cabinet member for neighbourhood services on Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “We know that using methods like this will help us tackle the climate emergency. We hope we can use this method in future projects to help our environment and save money.”
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