Pavement Rehabilitation Reimagined: Asphalt and Chipseal Solutions for More Cost-effective, Longer-lasting, and Sustainable Construction – Local Experience

Abstract

Society’s growing mobility and the rapidly ageing road network are currently confronting the road construction sector with ever greater and, above all, cost-intensive challenges. This paper presents a different perspective in pavement rehabilitation, utilising engineered asphalt and seal reinforcement technologies as an alternative to the traditional pavement design approach. Asphalt reinforcement has enabled rehabilitation of roads, highways, and airports worldwide faster and more economically, to significantly extend the useful life of asphalt surfaces and reduce CO2 emissions. The high-performance solutions ensure high durability and effective retardation of reflective cracking as these solutions are made of polyester or PVA (polyvinyl alcohol). The latter provides additional benefits i.e., the resistance to alkaline environments, which allows installation directly on milled concrete. And finally, the combination of paving geotextile with an added reinforcing grid provides both waterproofing and reinforcement functionality, resulting in the creation of a Chipseal grid, which is a more durable and cost-effective rehabilitation approach than conventional methods. This paper focuses on the design concepts for pavement rehabilitation: 1) High performance asphalt reinforcement grids for effective crack prevention and mitigation 2) Specialised sealing grid for longer-lasting sprayed seal pavements The paper is concluded with comparative data based on local Queensland and international experience, demonstrating the benefits achieved in asset performance and preservation, cost savings, environmental responsibility, and operational efficiency.