Asphalt Day 2016

The chairperson of the event Wendy Kooijman, Water Management Contract Manager for Drents Overijsselse Delta, led the day in an inspiring manner.

Jan de Boer (pictured right), chairman of VBW, discussed the future of the sector and argued that innovation and durability are the keywords that fit best with the future of the industry.

Following this presentation there was an interesting panel discussion about innovation and durability which featured Jan de Boer from VBW, Sandra Erkens from the Dutch Road Authorities, André Houtepen from the City of Rotterdam and Iman Koster of CROW. There is a potential conflict between innovative applications and the quality and life-time assurance that is desired by the road owner. This can only be overcome by good cooperation and risk sharing between contractor and road owner. By sharing the risk, the potential of new ideas can be demonstrated.

The morning session ended with the signing of the VBW code “Responsible Dealing With Road Management For Contractors”. In this code the members of VBW acknowledge that they are aware of the risks involved with tar containing asphalt, and that whenever this material is extracted from roads it will be transferred to a recognised thermal destruction unit.

In the afternoon Theo Terlouw (pictured left), Manager Eurobitume Benelux, presented details about “Asphalt Advantages”, a joint initiative set-up by Eurobitume and EAPA which has its own website, www.asphaltadvantages.com, where relevant information about the advantages of working with asphalt has been brought together and is freely available.

Two other presentations dealt with the Bitumen Data Collection Project (Wim Teugels, Nynas) and the development and application of the Multi Stress Creep Recovery Test for bitumen (Hilde Soenen, Nynas).

Johan Maeck, from the Belgian Road Research Centre in Brussels, spoke about silent road surfaces in the urban area of Antwerp, and included details about trial sections and subsequent measurements.

There were also presentations about Innovation and Quality (Asphalt Quality Window – a virtual information window where people can be advised on quality issues), by Arie Bleijenberg of TNO; and The Management of Detailed Information Flow Following the Storage of Detailed Data from Road Projects (PIM), by Edwin van Osch of Heijmans Infra.

Once again this annual asphalt day proved to be a valuable event for all participants, who made abundant use of the opportunities to meet and speak with industry colleagues during the breaks.