Beating rain on Auckland's roads

Auckland, New Zealand, the country's largest city is notorious for its four seasons in a day. It's where a bright blue beach-day can be hampered by fast-approaching rainfall within minutes.

The weather doesn't only hamper beach-goers plans. Road construction faces growing challenges due to unpredictable weather patterns and frequent downpours. Finding suitable windows for crucial sealing processes can be difficult. However, innovative solutions like Road Science's Weather Barrier help projects stay on track, even under challenging conditions.

Sealing requires dry conditions for proper curing and creating an effective waterproof layer between asphalt and its base. Nighttime construction, often the norm to reduce traffic impacts, presents hurdles with low temperatures, limited sunlight, and high humidity – all factors that significantly slow down the road construction process.??

Enter Weather Barrier: the game changer?

Auckland-based projects have successfully utilised Weather Barrier technology on membranes during winter nights, even under marginal weather conditions. Using Weather Barrier along with technology such as Zeus allows for informed risk assessment based on estimated curing times and anticipated weather forecasts.?

For example, imagine a night shift with clear skies but with rain predicted for the following day. Traditionally, using emulsion and cutback in such a scenario would be risky due to incomplete curing and embedment before the rain arrives.?

Road Science to the rescue?

Road Science has analysed the risk of sealing with and without Weather Barrier in such situations. The results are clear: using cutback was the riskiest option, by using emulsion the risk reduced slightly but without Weather Barrier, the risk of sealing failure was significantly higher, leaving a much smaller window for successful completion.

Using Emulsion and Weather Barrier meant the work could be done without risk of failure.??You can see the failure risk demonstrated below.

The positive impact is evident. Using membrane seals with Weather Barrier on Auckland Roads, Downer has successfully laid asphalt eight times, even when rain arrived the following day.

Looking Ahead

Weather Barrier paves the way for more efficient and resilient road construction in Auckland and beyond. By mitigating weather risks and enabling effective sealing even under challenging conditions, Weather Barrier empowers projects to progress smoothly, ultimately contributing to safer and more durable roads for everyone.