As part of this project, several discussions were held with the road authority (DIR Ouest) to present the reinforcement solutions developed by S&P Reinforcement France and to demonstrate their potential to extend pavement service life.

In addition to the initially selected rehabilitation solution—consisting of milling approximately 8 cm of pavement (depending on the section) and replacing it with two new bituminous layers—S&P Reinforcement France proposed carrying out a trial section incorporating its reinforcement grids.

The objective of this trial was to assess, under real operating conditions, the effectiveness of the different reinforcement solutions by comparing reinforced sections with a control section of identical structure, but without reinforcement at the interface between asphalt layers. Performance was analysed in particular with regard to the ability to limit crack reflection and to extend pavement service life.

Three S&P product references were selected and installed across three distinct trial sections (see “Solution” section).

These trial sections will be subject to long-term monitoring in order to compare their condition over time and quantify the contribution of S&P reinforcement to pavement durability.