Anand Mahindra in a recent tweet suggested the need to emulate or partner with a company to bring a ‘road patch’ like technology to India to aid in repairing our pothole-infested roads. The tweet was accompanied by a video from the company American Road Patch LLC which seeming first developed the technology about 5 years ago. While social media seemed to have a mixed response from liking and resharing to commenting that our roads were too potholed for the technology to work, we take a closer look at how the technology works.
To put it simply the ‘Road Patch’ is just a sheet of ‘highly modified asphalt’ and high-strength fibreglass that sticks to the surface of the road following a pothole repair to prevent water from meeting the affected surface. The sole purpose of the technology is to prevent water from accessing the filled-in pothole to keep the area of the road from redeveloping faults. The American company that developed the road patch says that as per its study potholes develop over time as moisture seeps into roads with pothole fixes typically not being very waterproof thus causing roads to develop fresh potholes in the same or adjoining areas.
The ‘Road Patch’ itself is similar to a vinyl wrap that is applied over the cleaned and prepped surface to keep the water out. The ‘Road Patch’ uses heavy-duty adhesive to stick to the road surface with the company claiming that it can even stretch and contract with the road surface. The firm claims that aside from handheld tools and pothole filler hot/cold mix, no specialised equipment is required.
The Road Patch is essentially a final step in filling in the pot hole that helps keep water out to prevent potholes from redeveloping
The ‘Road Patch’ is available in rolls and is applied to the surface of the road after the pothole and its surrounding has been cleaned, filled with hot or cold filler mix and flattened. The patch can be cut to varying lengths depending on the size of the pothole and even doubled up to cover wider sections. The patch needs to be stamped down after being laid to get it to adhere to the road surface. The company says that traffic can resume immediately after the patch has been applied
The company though says that in areas with temperatures going below 24 deg C a gas torch may be required to sufficiently heat the road surface for the adhesive to properly stick to the road surface. The adhesive also may not work on wet surfaces so the torch is required to dry and heat the section in and around the pothole before the fix can be applied.
The company says that the patch helps prolong the life of the repair job – the company says that the road patch can last for up to 10 years when properly applied.
