“Most of the many potholes in our roads are on asphalt pavements, essentially due to lack of maintenance,” says The Concrete Institute. South Africa has the expertise and technology to design, construct and maintain concrete roads on a par with the best in the world, says Bryan Perrie, managing director of The Concrete Institute. “Virtually all of the many potholes in our roads are on asphalt pavements, essentially due to lack of maintenance. Concrete roads do not form as many potholes or ruts, and require significantly less maintenance than asphalt roads. Concrete can also be used for the rehabilitation of asphalt roads, either by overlaying or inlaying,” Perrie states.

“Research has shown that when comparing equivalent designs, concrete is about 10 to 15 % more expensive on initial costs. But concrete lasts much longer than asphalt with, as mentioned,  significantly reduced maintenance costs, so when a full life-cycle cost assessment is carried out concrete roads have a similar or lower whole-life cost. This means less disruption to traffic as less maintenance is required,” he adds. Perrie says new developments in the form of Ultra Thin Reinforced Concrete Pavements for low volume applications, and Ultra Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements have made concrete roads easier and quicker to construct. “The construction of most of the concrete inlays on national routes utilising CRCP has been done with labour- intensive methods. Concrete lends itself to such job creation methods, especially for low volume municipal projects with extensive saving in maintenance costs.”

The Concrete Institute believes there is room for the appropriate use of both concrete and asphalt which can be used separately, or as composite pavements. Composite roads can be built with concrete on top of asphalt (as in sections on the N3), concrete underneath asphalt (some GFIP projects) or with concrete in heavily trafficked lanes alongside asphalt in the lighter trafficked lanes (sections on the N3 Town Hill). The construction equipment for both materials is available in South Africa.

“As all the materials used in concrete are sourced locally, concrete road construction is not dependent on importation constraints such as recently caused by shortages of bitumen. Concrete roads, with their long life and reduced requirement for maintenance, can play a large role in increasing the sustainability of our roads.” The Concrete Institute offers training in the design and construction of concrete roads and its comprehensive Information Centre in Midrand, which can be visited in person or on the web  free of charge, houses a vast amount of literature on the subject.