Use Of Aggregate From Glacier Deposits In High-Traffic Asphalt Pavements: A Polish Experience

An on-going Polish nation-wide program of construction and re-construction of roads requires a large quantity of aggregate. Aggregate from consolidated rock formations (for the road application) are produced only in the south-west part of Poland. The cost of material transportation from the south to the north or central part of Poland is often higher than the material value itself. In the eastern part of Poland aggregate from glacial deposits was shown to yield high performance crushed aggregate for construction purposes, although they are not widely used in hot mix asphalt (HMA) construction currently. In this paper results from the tests conducted on HMA surface and base layers using aggregate from glacial deposits are presented. HMA samples, asphalt concrete and stone mastic asphalt were designed and tested for rutting. In addition, the cost analysis was conducted in order to compare construction cost for HMA with aggregates from various regions and geological formations. Test results proved that aggregates from the glacier deposits could, indeed, be used for the structural layers in the asphalt pavements.