Carl Bierman, BVi Consulting Engineers
PRESENTATION - VIDEO
Abstract
Asphalt, the surfacing layer for most of our urban roads, consists of high-quality aggregates mixed with very expensive bitumen. To mix the aggregate and bitumen, the bitumen is heated to temperatures exceeding 160°C. This makes asphalt a very expensive material in terms of economics and environmental impact. Each year, thousands of tons of asphalt are milled off and replaced to maintain the roads in our major cities, producing huge stockpiles of reclaimed asphalt waiting to be recycled.
Foamed bitumen technology provides a solution to recycle 100% of this high-quality material with a few additional benefits.
Jakes Gerwel Drive connects South Africa’s two major highways, the N1 and N2, making it one of the most congested roads in Cape Town. Rehabilitating this road is challenging as closing lanes during peak hours will result in major traffic issues throughout the city. Recycling asphalt using foamed bitumen technology presented an environmentally friendly solution  that allowed for deep road rehabilitation to a depth of 340mm during a single night shift, with the road open before the morning traffic arrived.
About the Author
Carl Bierman graduated from Stellenbosch University with a Civil Engineering degree in 2016, and a Masters in Pavement Engineering with a focus on the design of Bitumen Stabilised Materials (BSM) in 2018. He went on to spend three years learning the ins and outs of the construction industry with Roadmac Surfacing Cape, and then moved to BVi Consulting Engineers Western Cape, where he works as an Assistant Contracts Engineer and a BSM application engineer.
