-A new application of a service life-extending-maintenance technique [LVO] –
“Gelderland is one of the largest bicycle provinces in the Netherlands. We have a wonderful network of cycle routes, often via the well-known red cycle paths, “says Harco Kersten, Sustainability Coordinator GWW of the province of Gelderland. “One of our goals is to make this bicycle infrastructure even more sustainable and for this we have challenged a specialist in this field, Latexfalt from Koudekerk aan den Rijn, to develop a maintenance technique for red asphalt so that the life span of cycle paths increases considerably”.
“Recently the LVO maintenance technique for ZOAB has been released by Rijkswaterstaat and with this technique a rejuvenating agent in the form of a bitumen emulsion is applied into the pores of the wearing course. This treatment increases the lifespan of ZOAB by 50%”, according to Foeke Elzinga, Commercial Manager of Latexfalt. “For dense pavements, such as red asphalt, we have developed a similar concept, whereby the emulsion is applied between the stones in a coarse wearing course. The big difference is that we are not now using a bitumen emulsion but a colorable binder and we have named the product NeoMex® Eco Color”. “There were still some implementation problems, because the emulsion must be colored with a solid red pigment that sags out quite easily,” says Leon Peters, project manager at Latexfalt. “That is why we have hired a robust spraying unit, which enabled us to treat a 15 km bicycle lane for the province of Gelderland within a reasonable time”. “The emulsion dries up as a nice red coating so that the color of the cycle path is refreshed again. After drying, the strip is sanded to ensure the skid resistance and the cycle path lasts for years again. We cannot yet say exactly how much the lifespan will increase, but the expectation is that it will be approximately 3-5 years”.
Harco Kersten adds, “in addition to these positive sustainability and environmental effects, the province is naturally also greatly helped by saving maintenance costs through the possibility of an LVO treatment for colored bicycle lanes. We will continue to support these types of developments as a province and we have good experiences by accelerating sustainability innovations through cooperation in the chain ”.
