Written question asked by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 December 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 December 2011. It was answered by Mike Penning (Conservative) on Monday, 12 December 2011 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment her Department has made of the cooling time for bituminous paving materials used on roads for the purposes of determining reasonable times for such works to be carried out.

Answer: There are a number of controlling factors for determining reasonable times for works to be carried out and the associated cooling times for modern bituminous paving materials. The principal ones are the material type, the weather conditions (air temperature and wind speed) and the thickness that the material is to be laid at.On behalf of my Department, the Highways Agency has carried out extensive research in this field over many years. The Highways Agency's Specification for Highways Works"http://www.dft.gov.uk/ha/standards/mchw/vol1/index.htm"incorporates the outcomes from the research, taking account of the modern bituminous materials used for pavement construction on the strategic road network. Research is ongoing into bituminous paving materials that can be laid at lower temperatures. As these materials are mixed and laid at lower temperatures, they can be compacted and opened to traffic more quickly than conventional bituminous materials. The research will determine whether these materials are suitable for the heavy traffic using the strategic road network.

Secondary information