Motorway movin’ on rapidly

WORK on the new M17-M18 Tuam-Gort Motorway is moving along so rapidly that when travelling in a jeep along the route you could forgiven for thinking that some sections look to be finished — but they are not.
Declan Carney, General Manager of Direct Route (Tuam Ltd) points out that the surface on the side of the motorway we are driving on is Cement Bond Material (CBM). It is being produced at a crushing plant along the route near Killilane operated by Roadstone.
The rock that was extracted to make way for the motorway is mixed with cement and water, depending on the moisture content of the stone. Using a hopper and a spreading machine they can lay between a half to one kilometre of CBF in a day.
“By doing this we are using a lot of the stone that we have extracted — it makes sense to do it in this way,” says Declan. He added that three layers of asphalt have to be laid on top of the layer of CBM before they reach the finished road surface.