Paving the way forward: A case study in innovation and process control

Co-operation between clients and the private sector provides significant opportunities to promote innovation in the road construction industry. This paper describes such an innovation project. In 2006, the Dutch ministry of Transport organised an innovation competition, challenging contractors to propose new technologies that might be relevant for the future of roads and road construction. BAM Wegen proposed using a combination of a dual layer paving process with a shuttle buggy for improved homogeneity, and themographic imagery and continuous GPS tracking on the paver and rollers for improved process control during the asphalt paving process. The main objectives were two-fold. Firstly, to work towards a 25% increase in the service life of the porous asphalt by improving the total process from the choice of raw materials and mix design to the monitoring of the finished product. Secondly, to develop innovative monitoring techniques of the asphalt laying process, since major developments in road paving are often hampered by insufficient feedback from finished projects. This proposal was one of the three "winners" that were each granted a project to put their ideas to the test on a short stretch of the A35 highway. This paper explains the idea's behind the proposed innovations, the way they where translated into practice, the actual project and the findings. Evaluation and discussion subsequently focuses on [1] the success of the proposed new technologies, on [2] the way the contractor has dealt with an innovation project in its daily business, and on [3] the effect of monitoring additional process data on quality control. Finally, the introduction of innovation during the construction process is discussed in the context of new trends in contracting i.e. the introduction of performance-based contracts, the move towards longer guarantee periods, risk transfer and new business models.