Thin Surfacing - Effective Way of Improving Road Safety within Scarce Road Maintenance Budget

It is generally known that timely application of preventive maintenance treatments, including thin surfacings, extends the service life of asphalt pavements. Numerous books and technical papers provide descriptions of various types of thin surfacings and other preventive maintenance treatments and show their ability to extend pavement performance curves. However, there is generally a lack of practical examples of thin surfacing applications, including costs involved, the benefits and in what circumstances they should be used for best return on investment. This paper describes the treatments including costs and user benefits, indicates limitations of particular treatments, and provides practical examples of the use of thin surfacings. The benefits include road safety improvements, mainly surface texture and frictional characteristics and correcting surface irregularities.