RCC, the solution for today’s highways and by-ways
An estimated 90% of roads are in disrepair and with little investment currently in infrastructure, CEMEX UK has developed a solution, Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC), which offers clients around 30% lower costs over a 50 year period.
A volatile oil market has resulted in spiraling oil and derivative costs, with the price of bitumen increasing 60 per cent over the last two years This combined with reduced spending budgets has resulted in CEMEX UK researching alternative materials that will keep costs down but offer similar levels of performance over a considerable lifetime.
Based on a cementitious alternative to bitumen and with the latest additives and technology, it could have a major impact on the design of roads, surfaces and paved areas now and in the coming decades.
RCC is a material aimed at the surfacing market currently dominated by flexible asphaltic solutions.
“Around 35 per cent of the price of asphalt is directly attributable to the high cost of bitumen and it is because of this that we have developed today’s RCC, striving to get better value for our customers. Whether the binders in the mix are bitumen based or cement based, it is doing the same job – binding aggregates,” says Will Fitzgerald, Director Asphalt and Paving Solutions CEMEX UK.
RCC is a non-slump concrete which shares many of the strength and durability attributes of traditional pavement quality concrete, but is laid using conventional asphalt paving equipment.
Once laid by the paver, transverse cracks are induced at regular intervals to allow for any potential contraction of the concrete.
Given the long term life cycle cost benefits of RCC, the potential of its use in both new construction and maintenance situations of surfacing is huge.
One possible solution currently being explored for roads and highways is the use of RCC with a thin asphalt overlay to provide skid resistance and noise reduction.
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Notes to Editors:
For further information contact Elizabeth Young; email: Elizabeth.young@cemex.com telephone: 01932 583214
CEMEX is a global building solutions company and leading supplier of cement, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates. In the UK, CEMEX also produces asphalt, and has a significant share of the concrete-block paving, and concrete block sectors. Additionally, the company is the leading supplier of concrete sleepers to the rail industry and a supplier of PFA cement additives. CEMEX has a national supply network in the UK with over 360 locations, to ensure that quality building materials are available to customers locally. For more information, see www.CEMEX.co.uk, www.CEMEX.com
- CEMEX Paving Solutions Ltd, is the new name for CEMEX Surfacing Limited and it offers customers a range of pavement solutions on a supply and laid basis ranging from bituminous to cementitious products, including a combination of the two.