Drive along a heavily used road in the UK and you may notice that certain sections look darker and shinier than the asphalt around them. The effect is often particularly obvious at junctions, roundabouts, bus stops and busy commercial entrances. In some cases, two shiny strips appear exactly where vehicle…

When a new driveway, access road or car park is finished, most people naturally judge the work by what they can see. They look at whether the surface is smooth, whether the edges are neat and whether rainwater drains correctly. One of the most important aspects of the installation, however,…

Most people associate roads with one colour: black. Traditional asphalt gets its familiar dark appearance largely from bitumen, the binder used to hold the aggregate within the material together. As the surface ages and is exposed to traffic and weather, it can gradually become lighter and greyer. But travel through…