In 2015, Carillion and project partner Tarmac commenced work on the Morpeth Northern Bypass. As part of this contract, a commitment was made to develop and deliver an automated paving technology to accurately record and aid the consistent laying of asphalt.
The objective was to reduce the occurrence of in-built highways defects, cutting the cost of repairing early failures.
Over the last 12 months, Carillion, Tarmac, Northumberland County Council (NCC) and Highway Data Systems (HDS) have worked together to deliver a bespoke process combining data capture during surfacing and advanced analysis with reporting to inform client asset management plans.
The project objectives were to:
- Understand how this emerging technology improves the end-to-end laying process and make it ‘business as usual”
- Record and analyse laying data
- Work with stakeholders to adapt this technology to ensure compatibility with BIM
- Provide an online portal for all stakeholders to be able to access this data
Carillion, Tarmac and HDS worked together to reduce inbuilt defects, improving future maintenance of the road for the clients. This was done by implementing emerging technology to the paving process, which collects data during the laying process from sensors on the paving and compaction equipment as well as matching GPS location information with material and ticket data to generate an electronic laying and compaction record for each load.
