Roadways has been highly commended at the CIHT Awards for its delivery of Cold bitumen emulsion based asphalt on the A26 Beddingham and A259 Winchelsea schemes.
The recognition follows Roadways’ recent edie Award win for Product Innovation of the Year, reinforcing the growing industry view that lower-carbon highways materials can be delivered safely, commercially and at scale within existing standards.
Proving cold asphalt on the Strategic Road Network
Delivered in collaboration with National Highways, WSP, Jacobs, Nynas and Surrey Highway Laboratories, the A26 and A259 schemes demonstrated that cold bitumen emulsion based asphalt can be used as a direct binder replacement on the Strategic Road Network without changing pavement design, layer thickness, specification or accountability.
On both schemes, the scope was planing and resurfacing to binder course level. Roadways produced, supplied and laid approximately 1,300 tonnes of cold binder course under nightly road closures, with hot / warm mix surface course installed in the same shift.
The project delivered:
– over 40% lower CO₂ compared with traditional warm mix resurfacing
– 10% cost saving
– zero virgin aggregate used in the binder layer
– reduced temperature-loss risk
– closed-loop use of planings through Roadways’ Sussex production facility
– no departures from existing standards
Sustainability that reduces risk, not just carbon
For Roadways, the importance of this recognition goes beyond the award itself.
The project shows that highways sustainability does not need to mean higher cost, increased risk or experimental delivery. By using local recycled materials, controlled production, laboratory assurance and full self-delivery, Roadways was able to reduce carbon while improving programme certainty and commercial control.
Cold bitumen emulsion based asphalt removes one of the biggest risks associated with hot and warm asphalt: temperature dependency. It does not rely on staying hot during transport, closures, delays or difficult site conditions. That creates a more resilient delivery model for clients, contractors and road users.
A scalable model for highways decarbonisation
Roadways believes the CIHT recognition marks an important step in the wider adoption of cold asphalt, HBM / CBGM and recycled highways materials across the UK.
The A26 and A259 schemes were not a laboratory trial. They were live Strategic Road Network schemes, delivered under normal operational constraints, with full governance and assurance.
The same approach can support National Highways schemes, local authority maintenance, Section 278 works, development infrastructure, compounds, access roads, utilities and energy-transition infrastructure.
Comment
Viktorija Vasilauskaite Bailey, Director of Operations at Roadways, said:
“To be highly commended by CIHT is a very strong endorsement of what our teams have been working to prove: that lower-carbon highways delivery can also be lower-risk, commercially sensible and fully standards-compliant.
The A26 and A259 schemes show that cold bitumen emulsion based asphalt is not innovation theatre. It is a practical, scalable way to reduce carbon, remove temperature risk and keep materials in circular use.
For the highways sector, the question is no longer whether these solutions work. The question is how quickly we make better use of the standards and materials already available to us.”
Roadways is a South East–based highways and civil engineering contractor with full self-delivery capability, including in-house production of Cold bitumen emulsion based asphalt, HBM / CBGM and recycled aggregates.
Working for National Highways, local authorities, Tier 1 contractors and private clients, Roadways delivers highways maintenance, resurfacing, civil engineering and circular road recycling schemes with direct control over quality, programme certainty and commercial risk.
Roadways the right way — lower-risk, standards-compliant infrastructure with sustainability built into delivery.