Council’s innovative highway repairs will recycle the road surface

Cheshire West and Chester Council, in collaboration with its new highway contractor, Colas, will use an innovative new process to repair a section of the A41 next month.

‘Recycol’ is a process for the in-situ recycling of road surfaces.  Developed by Colas, it removes existing road materials, mills them and then mixes them with an emulsion-based binder before relaying them again using specialist equipment.

It breathes new life into roads that are damaged or at the end of their life cycle.  It also not only minimises the amount of newly quarried stone materials needed but also reduces the number of HGV movements at the site.

The product is currently regularly used in France but this is only second time the treatment has been seen in Britain and the first time it will be used on a strategic road.  It was previously used on an urban road in Coventry in 2022.

Calculations based on materials, transportation, the manufacture of the mixture, freight trips to and from the site and implementation, show Recycol is projected to save up to 65 per cent in energy and 61 per cent carbon on this project.

A section of the A41 from Handley to Bolesworth/Broxton will be the location of the works starting from Tuesday 3 October to Sunday 8 October.  A full road closure will be needed with no through access to traffic.  A diversion will be in place.

The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Highways, Councillor Karen Shore said:

“I am delighted the Council will be using such an innovative product within the borough with our highways partner, Colas.  This is a good example of collaborative working and innovation, which has great environmental benefits.

“The works will also be much quicker than with conventional methods.  Traditional resurfacing techniques would take around 13 days to complete this section of road, compared to seven days using Recycol. 

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to road users in this area due to the road closure but thank you for your support while we continue to develop and innovate our working practices.  I look forward to seeing this product on our network.”

Compared to traditional resurfacing, there is also a cost saving of around 9.31 per cent for this particular project.

Following these works there will be night road closures to complete road marking along the route but the road will be re-opened to traffic during the daytime.  Please note that much of works will be weather dependant and subject to change.