$1.248 million road resealing program completed

Published on 28 April 2021

Road resealing is the process of spraying bitumen onto a road pavement and then rolling in a layer of uniformly sized stones to create a new surface.

Moira Shire Council’s bitumen resealing program has now been completed, on time and to budget.

Mayor Libro Mustica said a total of 266,922 square metres of rural roads and urban streets had been resealed at a cost of $1,248,000 this financial year.

“We have the responsibility of managing about 1,100km of sealed roads across the shire, and there are a number of factors that must be considered as to when the road surfaces need to be resealed, including the age of the existing seal, types and volumes of traffic, and types of defects such as cracking, aggregate loss, oxidisation of the surface, and skid resistance,” Cr Mustica said.

“Throughout the life of a sealed road, the road surface needs to be regularly replaced.

The road surface plays an important role in keeping water out of the underlying pavements; once water enters the pavement this then causes pavement failures, potholes and uneven surfaces.

“Road resealing is around one tenth the cost of full reconstruction or asphalt overlays, and when done at the right time can extend the life of a road by 10 to 15 years.”

Cr Mustica said the benefits of resealing roads included waterproofing of the road surface; protecting the underlying pavement from deterioration; seal small cracks and imperfections; extend the pavement life; economic method of resurfacing roads; and improved skid resistance.

“Now the bitumen reseal program is complete for this financial year, the preparation works for next year’s program are already underway,” he said.

“These works include edge break repairs, cement stabilisation of failed sections of pavements, regulation of uneven surfaces and crack sealing all in anticipation of a new bitumen seal next year.”