EUROPEAN BITSPEC SEMINARS 2002-2003: A COMMUNICATION PROJECT TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN BITUMEN STANDARDISATION

The paper presents the outcomes of the BiTSpec project: a series of 10 regional seminars on bituminous binder testing and specifications held across Europe between April 2002 and April 2003 and concluded in June 2003 by a European seminar in Brussels, Belgium. The project was aimed to support the development of the European standardisation and the preparation of a suitable and performance-related specification system for bituminous binders used in road construction. Initial proposals for the outlines of the future binder specification framework were prepared on the basis of the feedback from the regional seminars and the synthesis of collective viewpoints expressed by the European representative organisations. These proposals were discussed during the European seminar and the outcome is that a "transition framework" will be necessary to move progressively from the current traditional system towards a more performance oriented one. Once available, this framework will be used to become more familiar with the new standardised measurement methods and to collect data across Europe. In the meantime a validation exercise will be undertaken to assess the suitability of these new tests and their correlation with the actual performance of asphalt mix and pavement. Features of the transition framework and validation project are presented in the paper, together with some issues still to be worked out as suitability of the system for all types of binders and its coherence with future asphalt specifications and contractual schemes. The envisaged timeframe for implementing the new system is 2007/2008. For the covering abstract see ITRD E121480.