2014. 02. 25..

The Hungarian Asphalt Pavement Association (HAPA) held its 15th annual international conference in Balatonalmádi on 25-26 February 2014 with the participation of renowned foreign and Hungarian speakers.

The central topic of the conference named “The construction, testing, environmental and health-protection issues of asphalt pavements” was sustainability regarding the complete system of Hungarian road constructions – discussions were characterised by a bolder contribution from clients.

The large number of invited guests representing the road-construction sector was greeted by the chair of HAPA, Tibor Veress, followed by an introductory lecture from technical CEO József Szőke on behalf of Magyar Közút.

As the representative of the Hungarian Road Society and coordinator of the “Sustainable Roads” European Project, Colas’ technology director, Zoltán Puchard gave an overview on the activities of the legal, designing, quality assurance, environmental, training and research groups.

NIF’s deputy CEO for investments, Ákos Kovács presented asphalt paving activities illustrated with figures, and the expectations regarding eco-friendly, high-quality asphalt production and paving.

Focussing on road reconstructions, Colas Út’s CEO, György Zsiga presented bituminous cold recycling procedures based on French practices, while the quality manager of Colas Északkő, László Ézsiás held his speech on the reasons behind pavement deterioration.

Speakers from Magyar Közút and BKK Közút explained the significance of assessing and evaluating the condition parameters of road surfaces, as well as the use of the related data bank.

In addition to Polish, Austrian and German guests, some of the major machinery manufacturers – including Wirtgen and Amman – also represented themselves in the international segment, while the head of EAPA built his speech around environmental and health protection aspects.

Naturally, the programme included the introduction of the rubber bitumen being developed by MOL, while further topics covered some maintenance and operation observations, compaction and pothole repair methods, and early defects characteristic to pavement structures.

The conference also offered a fine opportunity to strengthen professional ties and to share results between various production-construction companies and clients.