Projects

Motorway between Riyadh and Mecca

The Ministry of Transport in Saudi Arabia invited PowerCem Technologies to execute a project on the motorway between Riyadh and Mecca.

In this desert-like area, natural resources are scarce and desert sand is traditionally difficult to stabilize. The desert sand was successfully stabilized and used as a foundation for a motorway approach road. 

 

When laying road surfaces in the desert, there are a number of important points which have a significant influence on the service life of the construction. The temperature, in particular, is one of these. Extremely high temperatures during the day and low temperatures at night result in high stresses on road materials. The subgrade, fine sand, has a low load-bearing capacity. And because of the long distances here, the supply of raw materials is difficult and leads to higher costs and longer construction times.

 

The stabilization of the desert sand by way of the application of the RoadCem product has proven to be a positive contribution to the road network in Saudi Arabia. By utilizing RoadCem, the flexibility values of the cement stabilization are much higher. As a result, the stresses which are a consequence of the extreme temperature differences can be better absorbed into the stabilization without causing cracking. With RoadCem, it is possible to bind fine sand and to transform it into a constructive road-engineering material. In fact, any soil type can be hardened, including broken asphalt, which means that no materials need be removed from the site. In Saudi Arabia, raw materials are scarce and usually must be transported long distances to arrive at construction sites. Since with RoadCem the removal and supply of foundation materials is no longer necessary, construction time is reduced substantially. The use of RoadCem also results in cost-savings for the customer of more than 20%. And due to the reduced maintenance requirements, the savings will increase even more in the future.

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