Roads – February / March 2011
Authority replaces container wharf pavement damaged by forklift loads in world’s first commercial use of high-performance asphalt base course.
By Paul Fournier
New Zealand’s Port of Napier recently repaired a heavily deformed section of pavement in their Container Terminal by replacing the failed pavement with high-performance asphalt mix incorporating technology never before used in a base course anywhere in the world.
Local contractor, Higgins Contractors Limited (HB), of Napier removed the deformed pavement from a section of H8-
K1 and re-paved the area using Highly Modifi ed Asphalt (HiMA) technology developed by Kraton Polymers LLC. The technology employs hard bitumen modified with styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer, Kraton™ D0243, and is designed to improve pavement resistance to permanent deformation and fatigue from repetitive loading.