Road near me looks like it was power-washed...

Fabio

Hi all,

Not sure where to put this but the roundabouts off of the Watergrasshill exit of the M8 look like they were powerwashed last night. The tarmac on the roundabouts themselves [but not on the exits of the roundabouts] is now a different colour, it looks whiter and cleaner. I ride a motorbike on my commute through here every day and notice it's a little less grippy than it had been.

I passed last night quite late and there were some large machines which seemed to be crawling around doing the work. Not sure how/why it is done though. Can anyone let me know? Curious about it.

punisher5112

Fabio wrote: »

Hi all,

Not sure where to put this but the roundabouts off of the Watergrasshill exit of the M8 look like they were powerwashed last night. The tarmac on the roundabouts themselves [but not on the exits of the roundabouts] is now a different colour, it looks whiter and cleaner. I ride a motorbike on my commute through here every day and notice it's a little less grippy than it had been.

I passed last night quite late and there were some large machines which seemed to be crawling around doing the work. Not sure how/why it is done though. Can anyone let me know? Curious about it.

They scrub the top layer as to make it better gripping.

They have done this on quite a few roads and roundabouts.

Doctors room ghost

Fabio wrote: »

Hi all,

Not sure where to put this but the roundabouts off of the Watergrasshill exit of the M8 look like they were powerwashed last night. The tarmac on the roundabouts themselves [but not on the exits of the roundabouts] is now a different colour, it looks whiter and cleaner. I ride a motorbike on my commute through here every day and notice it's a little less grippy than it had been.

I passed last night quite late and there were some large machines which seemed to be crawling around doing the work. Not sure how/why it is done though. Can anyone let me know? Curious about it.

They did the ones here lately but it was done in the day time so I saw them at it.its done with a truck with a heap of lances pointed down from the front bumper and a tank on the back of her.a sweeper truck following it.them section of road came up a whitey grey color.i presume it’s for better grip.they did maybe 100 meter run ups to roundabouts and all the roundabout with it

Limerick74

It’s called mechanical abrasion and it typically uses shot pellets fired at the surface with a big vacuum at rear collecting the pellets. Improves road surface texture to help skid resistance.

punisher5112

They done this on the N11 at the Glen of the Downs.

Then they later resurfaced the whole lot.

Diesel spills on roundabouts are notorious and when it rains the diesel resurfaces.

irishgeo

Whats the difference between doing this and putting down the brown anti skid surface.

AugustusMinimus

irishgeo wrote: »

Whats the difference between doing this and putting down the brown anti skid surface.

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Edward M

punisher5112 wrote: »

They done this on the N11 at the Glen of the Downs.

Then they later resurfaced the whole lot.

Diesel spills on roundabouts are notorious and when it rains the diesel resurfaces.

I think its really rubber deposits from tyres that clog up the tarmac and when the surface gets wet from rain the rubber makes the surface slippery.

Hagimalone

Without seeing it I reckon limerick47 is correct, reason why roundabouts are more prone to receiving this treatment is because of the constant turning movement & particular lorries.
This reduces the grip.
Also it only lasts for a year or 2 and then the road has to be resurfaced, it's a quick fix which gets extra year out of the existing pavement.
AFAIK