Colas Út Zrt. was entrusted with renovating the parking area of Aldi’s Mór supermarket, and we set out to perform the construction works in February 2017. The old, block-paved surface was in an appalling condition. Cost-efficiency was one of the investor’s main concerns upon planning the project, thus they chose to have the deteriorated pavement replaced with asphalt. Initially, the job was set to involve the reconstruction of the pavement structure only at certain spots. However, as it turned out after removing the block pavement, localised pavement-structure repairs would have been insufficient. Once we stripped the bedding, the causes behind the poor load-bearing results were instantly revealed: the high clay content of the soil and unfavourable ground-water levels necessitated the stabilisation of the soil on nearly three quarters of the area.

We drew up two different proposals for overcoming the issue. Ultimately, the client opted for the installation of geotextile, geogrid, and M56 gravel instead of stabilisation with lime and cement.Following the stabilisation, the subsoil finally had the load-bearing capacity to hold 20 cm of Ckt road base, 8 cm of AC 22 (F) asphalt-binding course, and 4 cm of AC 11 asphalt-wearing course. When defining the organisation of the asphalt-installation work phase, we had to take care not to obstruct shipments to the supermarket. Colas Út also upgraded the stormwater-drainage network of the parking lot: where necessary, we built gravel-covered shoulders and infiltration trenches, while adjusting the level of manhole covers. Although the investment started out as a renovation job, the new technical solutions put in place to tackle the unforeseen issues basically meant that we built a completely new parking lot, to the complete satisfaction of the client. Aldi’s Mór supermarket opened its gates to customers on 19 May 2017, and the precise, thorough work of Colas Út Zrt. had a decisive role in keeping the deadlines achievable.