Rehabilitating a major road using recycled asphalt

Northbourne Avenue Pavement Rehabilitation

Continuing upkeep is essential for maintaining roads, but sometimes there’s a need to go deeper than filling potholes. One roadway requiring a significant upgrade and scope of works? Northbourne Avenue, a major arterial road and gateway to Canberra from the north—part of the city’s foundation transport links connecting the Federal Highway to the central business district.

The project is part of Australia’s Shovel Ready Infrastructure Investment program to undertake land transport infrastructure projects. We were engaged to assess the condition of existing road surfaces, recommend treatment options, develop all design and documentation, and perform construction inspections to verify design intent. For resurfacing the pavement, an innovative foamed bitumen stabilisation process was used—top layers of asphalt are sent for recycling and the remaining road material is combined with foamed bitumen and lime. This forms a stable road base that is then repaved using the recycled asphalt.

By recycling the old road surface, this process was cost-effective and fast when compared to conventional methods. It also helped the environment by reducing the need for new materials. And now? The renewal of Northbourne Avenue delivered a road surface that will help improve safety over its lifetime.