Road renovation with special paving in Heßheim
When renovating residential streets, planners and local authorities particularly like to opt for paving: Paving looks good, excavations are not a problem and, if laid in accordance with regulations, paved surfaces can withstand the usual traffic loads. However, this is precisely where practitioners often observe a problem: damage to paved surfaces occurs time and again. One of the most common causes of this is that the stones are laid without the DIN-compliant joint spacing due to a lack of time. The joint material can then no longer perform its function as an “elastic buffer” between the stones and is unable to transfer the loads to the neighboring stones under load. Thicker spacers only create the illusion of a joint when the stones are laid in a crunchy pattern. The load is then transferred via the pure concrete contact. The result: edge spalling, displacement or breakage of the stones. For this reason, the local municipality of Heßheim in der Pfalz relies on a stone system for road resurfacing that guarantees a joint as part of the system and thus prevents damage caused by inadequate joint design.
Heßheim is located 4 km west of Frankenthal in the Rhein-Pfalz district. When the decision was made a few years ago to renovate the area around Birkenweg, the planners responsible placed particularly high demands on the paving material to be used. Andreas Mangold from the engineering firm Piske in Ludwigshafen explains why: “The area had previously been paved mainly with asphalt. Unfortunately, in the past, ugly damage to the pavement repeatedly occurred, which did not correspond to the desired quality of stay for the residential streets. A start was therefore to be made with a refurbishment using suitable paving stones to give the district a harmonious appearance with the help of suitable paving. A paving surface was sought that would emphasize the character of the residential street while also offering a permanently stable solution. Conventional paving was ruled out because, in our experience, the required joint spacing is all too often not maintained when laying paving. At first glance, such surfaces may appear stable – but sooner or later, damage will occur,” says Mangold.
DIN-compliant joint
The design of a DIN-compliant joint was also of particular importance to the planner due to the load placed on the pavement by the refuse collection vehicle and small trucks. As the 10 cm thick CombiStabil paving system from the Einstein paving family had already been used in other places, this system was also the first choice for the project in Heßheim. The special feature of the Einstein paver technology is the D-point joint technology, which ensures that there is only minimal contact at the bottom edges of the stones when they are laid. Unlike many other interlocking pavers with spacer or interlocking cam systems, the proportion of the surface where the stones touch remains very small thanks to Einstein paving technology. This prevents crunching, the joint required to absorb traffic loads is always maintained, thus ensuring optimum force transmission between the paving stones. Shear and horizontal forces caused by traffic on the surface are buffered by the joint material and transferred evenly to the base courses.
Damage is a thing of the past
“In addition to the stability properties, the appearance of the approximately 1,500 m² paved area also played an important role for us,” says Andreas Mangold. “We deliberately did without a footpath – the Birkenweg was built at the same level. An anthracite-colored gutter was laid in the middle of the shell limestone-colored paving system. All road users share the road space equally here. The whole thing is broken up by isolated anthracite-colored parking spaces and a few tree islands.”
The renovation work has been completed since the winter of 2020. Practical experience shows that the paved surface has not been damaged by residents’ cars or regular traffic from refuse collection vehicles – on the contrary: the surface still looks as good as new. Andreas Mangold comments: “The surfaces not only look attractive, but are also stable enough to withstand the traffic loads that occur, as this is the only way they will remain attractive in the long term. In future, we will continue to use CombiStabil paving from Pfenning wherever it makes sense to do so, because it’s a safe bet.”
