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New Technology Road Surfacing Constructability Trials in Ethiopia: Planning and Setting Up
May 5, 2022 @ 8:00 am – 9:00 am CEST

About the Webinar
This webinar presented early findings from the “Climate-resilient sustainable road pavement surfacing (CRISPS)” research programme funded by the UK Aid’s High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme (HVT) in collaboration with the University of Birmingham (UoB), the University of Auckland (UoA), the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and the International Road Federation (IRF). The CRISPS project seeks to demonstrate the technical and economic suitability of three technologies, namely fibre mastic asphalt (FMA), modified epoxy asphalt surfacing (MEAS), and modified epoxy chip seal (MECS), for the range of traffic and environmental conditions of high-volume roads typically seen in LICs currently and predicted to occur in the future taking account of the impact of climate change. The project has four main components, namely, deterioration modelling, life cycle modelling, developing an anti-fraud framework, and undertaking constructability trials in Ethiopia. FMA, MEAS, and MECS have been shown to provide climate-resilient roads which are cost-effective in terms of whole life costing and the project is aimed at showing the viability of these technologies in developing countries.
Held on 05 May 2022 virtually, this webinar presented both the planning and set up phase of the constructability trial for FMA, MEAS and MECS surfacings in Ethiopia through collaboration with the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA).
The webinar provided a brief background information about the FMA, MEAS and MECS surfacings based on experience gleaned from the suppliers of materials, industry experts, and a review of the literature. It closed with a presentation of the information about roads selected for the construction of both trial and control sections, followed by challenges faced by the project in the setting-up stage and how they were overcome.
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Speaking for You

Dr. Gurmel S. Ghataora
Senior Lecturer, University of Birmingham
See bio
Dr Gurmel S Ghataora holds a PhD in geotechnical engineering. He has been working in the geotechnical Engineering industry and academia for 47 years (in academia for the last 29 years). He has extensive international experience of materials testing (both laboratory and field), ground improvement, use of out-of-specification materials in construction and the improvement of roads and railways, extensive laboratory research. Gurmel runs a number of laboratory testing contracts for the industry which seek to understand how new materials for roads & railways reduce damage to subgrade soils. He has published two books on materials and transportation geotechnics respectively and has also published several book chapters. He has over 140 peer reviewed journal and conference papers, a substantial number of these are on materials and materials testing for roads and related topics.