Road is ‘recycled' as part of £580k rebuilding scheme

A large section of a major Cardiff road has been rebuilt in a scheme which saw part of the old road recycled.

Instead of re-building the road from all new material, Cardiff Council engineers opted for a more sustainable solution to rebuild part of Grand Avenue in Ely in a scheme costing £580k.

The poor condition of Grand Avenue was down to large boulders in the layers of the road causing the Tarmac to crack, allowing water in and damaging the road.

The boulders were dug out and sent away to a recycling centre where they were crushed and used as part of the new road base, along with material planed off from the original Tarmac surface.

A fresh three layer Tarmac surface was laid on the new road base.

Work has now been completed on a total of 6,500 square metres of Grand Avenue, where the road was deemed to be in the worst condition.

Around 4,400 tonnes of material was excavated to use in the recycling process.

A traditional reconstruction would have involved removing and disposing of around 10,010 tonnes of material, meaning just under half of the road was rebuilt using recycled material.

Road closures were in place for six weeks while the section of Grand Avenue was rebuilt with minimal disruption to the residents and businesses.

More parts of Grand Avenue will be rebuilt in the next two years.

Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: "We have been working to rebuild a number of roads around the city and Grand Avenue is one of the biggest projects so far.

"The section of Grand Avenue that has been rebuilt was in a very bad condition and our priority is to prevent roads getting into such a poor state.

"As with all our reconstruction work, it has now been rebuilt with the aim of making it last as long as possible.

"I am delighted that we were able to recycle part of the old road therefore using a more sustainable way of rebuilding Grand Avenue."

Reconstruction work has also recently been carried out on the following roads:

• Rhydhelig Avenue, Heath, costing £260k

• Caegwyn Road, Whitchurch, costing £47k

• Ty Gwyn Road, Penylan, costing £50k

• Caeglas Road, Rumney, costing £120k

• Llandennis Avenue, Cyncoed, costing £125k

Another project for the future will see Culverhouse Cross roundabout resurfaced at a cost of around £170,000.

The area to be resurfaced is 6500m2 and Cardiff Council will be working in partnership with the Vale of Glamorgan Council as they will be resurfacing from the Tumble down to the roundabout.