Country: New Zealand
Key Area: Transportation
Services: Pavement Engineering

Opus professionals have worked closely with the New Zealand Transport Agency (formerly Transit New Zealand) and the local contracting industry in New Zealand to developed innovative and cost effective pavement design and construction procedures for recycling of existing highway pavements.

Recycling involves the mixing of measured quantities of modifying agents into existing pavement materials to provide an “as new” pavement without needing to import expensive make up materials, or dispose of materials removed from the site. Material recycling can also be used when developing new pavement infrastructure. Our ongoing research into pavement recycling includes comparing the as constructed pavement outcome with our design assumptions, and working closely with our client to refine our design assumptions as required.

By keeping the contracting industry aware of the ongoing research work, we have assisted our client to maintain the effectiveness of recycling as a pavement solution. Improvements in the plant and material handling processes that can be employed on pavement recycling means that this process can now be used in both high and low traffic environments. The speed of the process means that highway traffic is not disrupted for long periods.