Kazakhstan develops Superpave technology standards

New technologies will enable extending the service life of roads in Kazakhstan and improving the quality of asphalt concrete. The Superpave mix design system is widely used in 30 countries worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea. The key feature of the technology is its tailored and more precise laboratory selection of asphalt concrete mixtures, based on a specially developed PG grading system. This ensures that pavement ingredients are chosen based on an analysis of specific conditions in the road construction area, including climatic characteristics, traffic intensity, and temperature limits over the past two decades. In Kazakhstan, super asphalt will first undergo adaptation and then be gradually integrated. To this end, scientists from the Road Research Institute are developing national standards. Asphalt concrete plants will then begin work based on the regulatory documents.

“As part of the state task for the implementation of the new Superpave technology, our institute is conducting laboratory tests to determine the operational characteristics of organic binders in accordance with climatic zones of Kazakhstan,” said Manarbek Zhumamuratov, junior researcher at the Kazakhstan Road Research Institute.

“The advantage of this technology is that it extends the service life of asphalt-concrete pavements by one and a half to two times. This helps address road defects such as rutting, cracking, formation shifting, and others. We are currently conducting laboratory tests,” said Kairat Mukhambetkaliyev, Head of the New Technologies Department at the Kazakhstan Road Research Institute.