paving highway 4

This is perhaps one of those examples where the picture doesn’t paint enough words. On the face of it it’s another Grasscrete verge on a another highway nothing too remarkable about that, but the reality is very different.

The project is a series of laybys constructed along the A696 a major tourist route linking England and Scotland. The single carriageway road is also the main route for the British Army’s heavy artillery range at Otterburn and is subjected to convoy movement of heavy equipment. The laybys therefore enable convoys to pull in to enable traffic build up to be released.

The project could so very nearly have turned out differently had it not been for a twist of fate. The order for the works had originally gone to a competitor pre-cast concrete system and the first layby had been constructed only for the installation to fail under the weight of a lorry supplying ready mixed concrete to the works. So it was out with the pre-cast and in with the cast in-situ Grasscrete in the 150mm Type GC2 format complete with 10mm diameter A393 mesh reinforcement.

With much of the route having designated ‘Historic Verges’ it was considered essential that the laybys shouldn’t have a negative impact on the local environment. The concrete was therefore supplied to a colour that toned into the local soil types along the route and the topsoil infill to the Grasscrete was pH profiled to help complete the natural balance.

Now it’s easy for tourists to miss the 2 metre wide strips of Grasscrete as they drive by, but for the essential user they know it’s there by locating the white post markers.

Also available as a full project report, please ask for further details