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Permeable, Unpaved Roads Offer Fast Site Access—Even Over Soft Subgrades.

Permeable, Unpaved Roads Offer Fast Site Access—Even Over Soft Subgrades.

The 3D cellular confinement technology was developed by Presto Products Company and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in the late 1970’s for building roadways over poor subgrades using on-site sand. Ultrasonically-welded strips of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) form the 3D GEOWEB® System—transforming infill by giving cohesion and additional strength to non-cohesive soils—through confinement. This translates well for remote areas such as the Canadian Oil Sands and Amazon Basin where soft subgrades and limited access to aggregate resources makes building roads especially challenging.

GEOWEB roads are often the chosen solution for these challenging conditions as they greatly reduce the cross-section required—often replacing a 1.5 m section with a 200 mm section. Additionally, reject screenings from crushing operations (coarse sand <5 mm) can be used as infill rather than having to import expensive aggregate to the site.  The road sections are shipped in efficient collapsed bundles, ready for fast deployment and installation on site.

Confined in the GEOWEB cellular network, infill remains extremely stable under heavy loading. With dynamic and static loading surface pressures distributed across the confinement system, concentrated rutting and maintenance requirements are virtually eliminated.  Differential and overall settlement impacts are also minimized, even with low-strength subgrades.

Low Environmental Impact Design Solution

Pavement designs requiring highly-permeable surfaces also benefit from the GEOWEB technology.  High-porosity aggregate infill promotes stormwater infiltration, reducing surface runoff.  On-site stormwater containment systems may be eliminated as the pavement performs double duty as an on-site water detention/retention storage “basin” to manage stormwater at its source.

Permeable pavements are incorporated for problematic soft soil, high traffic areas, such as intermodal yards and auxiliary parking lots, where hard-surface pavements are highly susceptible to degradation and maintenance.  With many environmental attributes, permeable pavements also contribute to green building credits–such as the USGBC’s LEED® program–and are viable options for sustainable Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Infrastructure (GI) design.

The GEOWEB system improves the load distribution characteristics of unpaved roads and pavements, reducing long-term maintenance requirements and costs and delivering numerous environmental benefits. GEOWEB pavements can handle site challenges—and have been for over 35 years—allowing access even over the toughest site conditions.
Information provided by Presto Geosystems