A14 milestone for Aggregate Industries
Company lays its millionth tonne of material on the Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme
AGGREGATE Industries, working in collaboration with the A14 Integrated Delivery Team, have laid their millionth tonne of material on Highways England’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme.
The achievement coincides with the project’s dedicated on-site asphalt plant producing its 350,000th tonne for use on the improvement scheme.
In addition to this, 150,000 tonnes of asphalt has been supplied from Aggregate Industries’ plants at Bardon Hill, Peterborough and Purfleet, and in excess of 500,000 tonnes of cement-bound granular mixtures (CBGMs) have been manufactured and placed.
The types of asphalt Aggregate Industries have utilized on the project include their 10mm SuperThin product, which reduces the noise level by 7.8db(A) compared with traditional hot-rolled asphalt (HRA), thereby satisfying stringent noise restrictions where the scheme passes through built-up areas.
However, the works have not been without their challenges. In particular, this summer has seen the completion of some very complicated traffic switches, with 17–18 August alone demanding 5,600 tonnes of asphalt be continually mixed, transported and placed to transform the Bar Hill Junction.
Paddy Murphy, managing director of contracting at Aggregate Industries, said: ‘It is a great achievement to have laid our millionth tonne of material on Highways England’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement scheme, currently the UK’s largest and most prestigious major infrastructure project.
‘Reaching this milestone was made possible by working safely and in complete collaboration with the A14 Integrated Delivery Team, and the completed carriageway upgrades will be of great benefit to the local area.’
Chris Hudson, managing director of asphalt at Aggregate Industries, said: ‘From the outset, our investment in the new asphalt plant emphasized our commitment to delivering this project, and these milestones put our achievements into perspective. We’re looking forward to the new, improved A14 being fully up and running.’
When completed, the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme will feature 21 miles of new multi-lane carriageway, laid utilizing local primary and secondary aggregate supply sources.
