Road surfacing improvements to be carried out on A96 near Keith
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Amey is set to deliver surfacing improvements on the A96 near Keith by using an eco friendly recycling technique that will save hundreds of tonnes of carbon emissions.
The £460,000 project, which Amey is carrying out on behalf of Transport Scotland, will address defects on more than 650 metres of the A96 road surface to the north of Keith, between the Mulben Junction and Newton of Forgie.
Work will take place between Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 26 under traffic management which includes a full weekend closure of the trunk road and overnight road closures.
This will be the first time that the innovative recycling technique, known as in-situ cold recycling, has been used by Amey to resurface the north-east trunk road network in Scotland.
In-situ cold recycling reuses all of the existing surfacing material to relay the new road pavement and reduces the carbon of a scheme by roughly 71 per cent
As well as significantly reducing carbon emissions, the technique also allows the resurfacing work to be carried out faster, and the road reopened quicker, than conventional resurfacing techniques.
The process involves firstly pulverising the existing carriageway at the site location (in-situ), and then mixing it with foamed bitumen and cementitious powder to create a new strengthened pavement.
The material is then overlayed with a new binder and surface course and compacted to return the recycled pavement back to the required road level.
By reusing existing pavement materials on site, and because the technique does not require the material to be heated, the amount of material that is transported to and from the work site is significantly reduced, leading to a large reduction in carbon emissions and reducing the impact on other road users.
The essential maintenance on the A96 near Keith will be carried out initially using overnight convoy working between 7.30pm on Thursday, April 18 and 6.30am on Friday, April 19 with temporary traffic lights in place during the day on Friday, April 19.
Then, to ensure the safety of roadworkers and motorists, there will be a full weekend closure between 7.30pm on Friday, April 19 and 6.30am on Monday, April 22.
This will then be followed by a further four overnight closures between Monday, April 22 and Thursday, April 25 from 7.30pm to 6.30am each night.
Traffic management is scheduled to be removed by 6.30am on Friday, April 26.
During the road closures northbound traffic will turn right onto the B9016 north of Keith and travel past the crematorium to turn left onto the A98.
Traffic will then continue on the A98 to rejoin the A96 at Fochabers. Southbound traffic will take the route in reverse.
The resurfacing will benefit nearly 7000 vehicles who use this route each day, creating a smoother ride for motorists and reducing the need for ongoing maintenance.
All schemes are weather dependent and may be cancelled or rescheduled if weather conditions are not favourable.
