Cienco 4 pilots road surface paving to fix wheel ruts and sinking

To overcome the phenomenon of wheel ruts on the BOT (build-operate-transfer) project of National Highway 1A, from the South of Ben Thuy Bridge to the Ha Tinh City bypass, the project investor, the Construction Corporation for Transport Works 4 (Cienco 4), has started to scrape and pilot the resurfacing of asphalt concrete using various methods at locations where ruts appear that exceed the permitted standards.

Re-excavating National Highway 1 South Ben Thuy - North Ha Tinh. (Photo: Cienco 4)

Faced with the phenomenon of rutting on asphalt concrete roads during the hot season this year, the Traffic Construction Corporation 4 has proactively detected and quickly organized emergency measures such as regulating traffic and watering to cool the road surface during rush hour.

Up to this point, the authorities are still investigating the cause of the wheel ruts and finding solutions. However, Cienco 4 still decided to proactively implement the treatment of scraping and resurfacing the road surface with Polymer asphalt concrete.

At some sections, Cienco 4 will pilot the use of additional additives as suggested by foreign experts to study the ability to increase the softening temperature and withstand complex overload conditions.

The results of the asphalt pavement pilot will be reported to the Ministry of Transport for application to other rutted routes. (Photo: Cienco 4)

In recent times, Cienco 4 has focused on researching the best asphalt concrete mix, suitable for the actual weather conditions and the phenomenon of overloaded vehicles that is still difficult to control on National Highway 1A from the South of Ben Thuy Bridge to the Ha Tinh bypass, and at the same time investing in a modern technology scraping line system, which is currently widely used in many advanced countries in the world.

Mr. Le Ngoc Hoa, General Director of Traffic Construction Corporation 4 affirmed: “The entire process of scraping and repairing has been calculated in detail, ensuring that it does not affect the traffic of means of transport, while ensuring traffic safety and labor safety at the maximum level. The results of this pilot project will be analyzed, evaluated and reported by Cienco 4 to the Ministry of Transport for application to other rutted routes.”

In addition, according to Mr. Hoa, Cienco 4 has now completely stopped all traffic regulation activities on National Highway 1A from South Ben Thuy to North Ha Tinh to begin construction and repair.

“The Corporation’s consistent view is to urgently and synchronously implement many measures to protect the route with the goal of ensuring a green, clean, beautiful and safe route,” the General Director of Cienco 4 shared.

It is expected that the asphalt concrete road surface with wheel tracks on National Highway 1A, section Nam Ben Thuy - Bac Ha Tinh, invested by Cienco 4 BOT, which is under warranty, will be repaired and completed before July 30, 2014. The cost of scraping and repairing during the warranty period will be the responsibility of the road construction unit and will not increase the investment cost of the project./.

The investment project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A, section South of Ben Thuy Bridge - Ha Tinh city bypass, started on September 7, 2012 with a length of 35.1 km, total investment of 2,434 billion VND, invested in the form of BOT by Cienco 4 as the investor.

After 4 months of operation, at some points on the route, signs of rutting and localized wheel tracks have begun to appear on the road surface.

In order to prevent overloaded vehicles, the Traffic Construction Corporation 4 has installed a low-speed dynamic weighing system since June 26 at the Ben Thuy II toll station, thereby "detecting" nearly 41% of overloaded vehicles circulating on the Vinh city bypass and the expanded National Highway 1 section Vinh-Ha Tinh.

According to VNA