The Project

This scheme, carried out under TII’s High Speed Road Pavement Renewals Framework, involved the removal and replacement of almost 185,000 square metres of surface course on a 7.3km stretch of the M50 between Junction 14 at Leopardstown and Junction 17 at Shankill where the M50 and M11 merge.

The Product

This involved laying approximately 18,000 tonnes of Stone Mastic Asphalt surface course in accordance with the TII Specification for Road Works.

In order to achieve the most durable surface possible, Kilsaran Roadsurfacing and Contracting and our client – Jons Civil Engineering Ltd., in conjunction with the client decided that it was desirable to lay the surface course in echelon.

The Process

Echelon involves laying the material in one pass across the full width of the motorway carriageway.

In this instance it entailed laying with three of our Vogele paving machines side by side. This eliminates the need for cold longitudinal joints which is the most common location of pavement failure. No joints means no path through which water can pass, eliminating a possible weak spot from the start.

As the M50 is Ireland’s busiest roads with traffic volumes in excess of 100,000 vehicles per day, the project was carried out during night time possessions of the motorway between 10pm and 6 am. In excess of 1km of motorway carriageway was laid in each night shift.

To achieve this our site team of 30 people took delivery of the material from a transport fleet of 30 trucks from two asphalt plants to ensure that paving could run continuously for the entire shift.

The People

• Main Contractor: Jons Civil Engineering Ltd.
• Location: M50 Junction 14 to M11 Junction 5.
• End Client: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
• Products: Stone Mastic Asphalt surface course.

You can learn more about these products or view product specifications here: