By John Myers, Jnr. Staff ReporterTHE POOR quality of butimen, a critical component in asphaltic concrete surfaces, has been identified as one of the main factors behind the rapid deterioration of the island's road network.
This was revealed at a seminar hosted by the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS), in association with the Asphalt Institute, based in the United States, and Jamaica Institute of Engineers at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew yesterday.
Guest speaker, Dr. John Allgrove, senior director in the civil and structural engineering firm Wallace Evans Jamaica Ltd, said the quality of butimen has been significantly affected due to more stringent extraction methods employed in the processing of gasolene, diesel, kerosene and other products from crude since 1974.
DISINTEGRATE EASILY
As a result, he said the material has lost much of its binding power which causes the road surface to develop cracks and disintegrate easily.
Butimen is the dark material that is spread onto road surfaces, commonly called tar, used to bind aggregate material. Butimen is a derivative of petroleum.
"What we need to be doing in my view is to look possibly to add mixtures that you can add to the mix (butimen) which can replace or compensate for those changing characteristics," Mr. Allgrove said.
NOTICEABLE CHANGES
In justifying his proposal, he explained that since 1974 there have been noticeable changes in binding capabilities of butimen which result in roads disintegrating rapidly, especially when exposed to excess water and heavy traffic.
"I noticed that... refineries here and probably elsewhere, have been meticulous in removing the light oils (gasolene, diesel, kerosene) from the crude and in doing that it (butimen) loses a fair degree of the flexibility it had before and would strip when exposed to water and heavy traffic," Mr. Allgrove explained.
Richard Lawrence, team leader for the Metrology and Testing Department at the JBS, said the two-day seminar was organised "so that we could get a feel of what is out there in terms of new technology, new techniques to develop and maintain our road network."
