The year 1996 was full of hope and optimism. The new digital Motorola 7500 mobile had replaced the analogue NEC P800. Dial-up broadband was available – if you were patient and could afford a modem. Potholes were being filled using a shovel, a splash of tar and a generous helping of that same optimism!
Archway Products was starting to develop a new automated machine, aimed at finding a solution to that perennial pothole problem. It was called the Roadmaster.
Having been involved in development and use of road-repair machinery for over 20 years, Archway Products Ltd has been central to the evolution of road-repair techniques. This has led to the now widespread use of spray-injection patching. From an early focus on pothole repair, the science has now moved firmly to pothole prevention.
It has long been accepted that prevention is always better than cure and ,as the means to achieve that objective became available, many local authorities have grasped the opportunity and are reaping the benefits.
Sales of the equipment have rocketed, with the process now in widespread use throughout Ireland and Britain. A policy of continuous development, and of listening to customers’ needs, has led to a combination of technology in the form of the Roadmaster Spray-Injection Patcher.
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The roadmaster with extended boom[/caption]
Many changes have taken place since the inception of the process in the 1980s, when the ambition was to successfully fill a pothole (and workers were often asked to only fill the big ones, such was the condition of the roads). Repairs were largely reactive and life expectancy of the repair was low – as was the life expectancy of many of the vehicles using those roads.
Investment during the Celtic Tiger era
The Celtic Tiger years changed all that. Frequent application of surface dressing led to a vast improvement in road conditions in the years up to 2010. The accumulated benefits even lingered on for a few more years, until eventually the cracks started to appear again.
However, this time around, many authorities recognised that the Tiger was not coming back any time soon and began to take a proactive approach to road repair.
It was recognised that early intervention before the cracked surface broke up would pay dividends, and so preventive maintenance came into its own. With limited resources at their disposal, engineers focused on selective repairs and reinforcing weak sections of road.
Application of a 15mm spray patch to a weakened or cracked area could prolong the life of an otherwise perfectly good road for many years. Gone were the days of the ‘fill her up again’ pothole.
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The Roadmaster with auto-fold boom[/caption]
Today's roads engineers still wrestle with limited resources and still face the age-old challenge of getting more from less. However, they now have a new and powerful ally to help them stretch that budget to satisfy the needs of an ever-more-demanding public. A single Roadmaster machine can place a 10-ton load of high quality material in a day, in the safest manner possible, and with very little inconvenience to the public. No other known method of road repair can achieve so much for so little cost.
Archway can be truly proud of having brought this level of innovation to the roads of Ireland and all eyes are now firmly focused on the international market. Good reason for further optimism!
See http://www.archwayproducts.com for more details on the range of road-repair machinery offered by Archway Products.