Ayrton Senna Highway

This highway was built in 1978 and is one of Brazil’s busiest freeways and it connects São Paulo with Rio de Janeiro, Guarulhos International Airport, Campos do Jordão and Vale do Paraiba. Every day, about 125,000 vehicles travel along this route in each direction, 15% of them heavy goods vehicles. These heavy vehicles destroyed the initial pavement structure (250mm cement treated base with 100mm asphalt wearing course (HMA) over years of service and was in dire need of a rehabilitation.

International was consulted and together with technicians from JBA Engineering and Consulting Ltda, provided support for preliminary investigation as well as assisting with the rehabilitation. A new BSM layer was proposed by means of a KMA plant.

International was consulted and together with technicians from JBA Engineering and Consulting Ltda, provided support for preliminary investigation as well as assisting with the rehabilitation. A new BSM layer was proposed by means of a KMA plant.

The existing asphalt layer and cement stabilised base layer was milled of separately, the asphalt crushed to -30mm a ggregate size, and the cement layer discarded. The crushed asphalt was then stabilised with foam bitumen and hydrated lime. The new material was then paved back to a thickness of 200mm followed by a 130mm second BSM layer and a 20mm asphalt wearing course.

“There is no doubt that this project will set a precedent for future roadworks in Brazil.” – FREMIX