Pavements
TRL has long been involved in the design of new road and airfield pavements, and their maintenance. On the basis of TRL research, the UK was the first country in the world to incorporate long-life or threshold designs for both new pavements and the rehabilitation of existing ones.
This fundamentally changed the way in which maintenance needs are assessed on flexible pavements in England, leading to dramatic savings in the length, extent and cost of pavement reconstruction.
Using similar approaches, TRL can help develop and assess innovative approaches to pavement design and maintenance, for application both in the UK and across the world. The result? Economic benefits to our clients and road users as a result of adopting durable and cost effective solutions.
TRL offers laboratory testing, controlled full-scale testing in our pavement test facility, full-scale live trafficked sites and monitoring on in-service pavements, including:
- Trialling techniques for minimising the disruption associated with utilities
- Evaluating the benefits of geogrids and geotextiles
- Developing best practice for use of recycled materials
- Developing a performance-based approach to specifying surfacing materials
- Assessing the durability of high performance asphalt (high modulus / high binder content)