Pothole repairs in Auckland took on a new look this month, when Neuchatel introduced Auckland Council to its purpose-built Permatrack Mastic Asphalt compound.

Based on IKO’s benchmark Permanite Mastic Asphalt, Permatrack was developed in association with the British Highways authority to minimize the time and effort required to implement effective long-term highway repairs.

There’s several key advantages of using Permatrack , any one of which would cause a highway manager to consider the product. But added together, this product should revolutionise highway repairs. The key benefits are:

  1. It is fast and easy to apply. A two-man team can repair a broken manhole in hours.
  2. It sets fast, and can be layered, allowing workers to fill any sized hole to exact proportions.
  3. No heavy equipment is needed. Other than clearing the site, most of the work is done by hand. A garden roller is all that’s required to ensure a smoot even surface at the end.
  4. It sets fast (didn’t I already say that?) so almost as soon as the repair is complete the road can be reopened to traffic.

The trial on Dominion Road was not without incidents. We cut the hole bigger than we should of, making the job much bigger than it needed to be. And it was deeper than we expected, requiring a lot of fill. But while these might have caused insurmountable problems for traditional processes, they merely made our installation a little more extreme.

Here’s what we did…

  1. The moment the lane was closed, we cut the asphalt surface, then used a jackhammer to remove the old paving.
  2. Once the old paving and the ironwork was removed, we prepped the hole with Asphalt Primer, then scooped in mastic asphalt to build a new base for the manhole to sit on.
  3. With the manhole leveled, we put in two more layers of Permatrack, to build the hole level with the road.
  4. Once the surface had partially set we added asphalt-coated stones to the mix, to ensure adequate slip resistance on the surface.
  5. The entire surface was then rolled smooth.
  6. Because of the size of the site, and the hot weather, we applied water to the surface to cool it down, before reopening the lane to rush-hour buses.

During the trial a passerby sniggered to me “One person on a broom, and nine people watching”. I wanted to tell him that those nine were top council and stakeholder bigwigs, but resisted the temptation. As well as council representatives, we had the Council’s engineering consultants, the roading contractors, and our own observers. Suffice to say, the project was very adequately handled by the three guys who actually lifted the tools.

Without a doubt, the trial was a success. The repair is considerably superior to conventional methods, and will last considerably longer. Not only because the material is malleable and binds perfectly with the adjoining material, but also because once it’s set, there’s no chance of subsidence.

Youtube Neuchatel Ironworks Replacement

 

Take a look at the entire process in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbL5FWmw1vg&feature=youtu.be

Permatrack is ideal for Ironworks repairs, and also for minor repairs such as cracks or joins. It’s also used extensively in the UK for Bridgeworks, as it’s stronger than conventional asphalt. It was even used on London’s Tower Bridge, which tilts to near vertical.

Permatrack is distributed in New Zealand by Neuchatel NZ Limited. For the last 100+ years Neuchatel has been protecting tens of thousands of surfaces from deterioration caused by heavy machinery and the elements. In this time they’ve refined their products and services to be more durable, environmentally friendly and affordable – especially for large scale projects. For more information, click the links above, or call us on 09 441 4595