Concrete roadways in Ukraine

Since 2005, MC has been represented by its own company in Ukraine – in Berezan, 80 kilometres east of Kiev. It has since grown to become market leader in the Ukrainian concrete admixtures market, acquiring in particular an excellent reputation in the field of concrete road and runway construction. There is hardly a project in the country where the concrete know-how of MC is not utilised.
Roads made of concrete are more resilient and durable than those of asphalt, although they are also more complex to construct. Their qualities have been in demand in the past and are still sought after today, for example in the construction of runways at the international airports of Donetsk (2011), Kiev-Boryspil and Lviv (2012), not to mention the current Odessa project (completion date 2021); and also in many motorway builds, such as the N14 trunk road currently under construction between Kropyvnytskyi and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

 

Preference for concrete roads

Concrete road construction is popular in Ukraine not least because the material can be produced from local inputs and is quickly available in large quantities. The N31 trunk road between Dnipro and Reshetylivka located some 400 kilometres southwest of Kiev is a case in point, with a stretch of 80 kilometres scheduled to be completed by 2022. The progress rate there can be up to 500 metres per day. Two concrete plants ensure uninterrupted supply to the construction site, and MC in Berezan produces and supplies large quantities of admixtures for this and numerous other projects. In Ukraine, MC products have become the common standard for concrete road construction. The superplasticisers of the Muraplast series play a special role here. Their chemical and physical actions ensure a high degree of homogeneity in the concrete. They reduce the internal frictional forces in the concrete and therefore also the power required by the road pavers for placing, spreading and compacting. They likewise provide for high early strength values. This is particularly important for cutting joints, a necessary process in concrete road construction.

 

MC’s concrete expertise in high demand

Particularly against the background of the difficult weather conditions prevailing locally, with double-digit sub-zero temperatures in winter and over 35 °C in summer, the competence of MC and the excellent equipment of its concrete laboratory in Berezan, augmented by a commitment to close cooperation with all those involved in the project, have greatly benefited the work. Among other things, the air-entraining agent Centrament Air 202 is used to ensure a high level of resistance in the concrete to freeze-thaw cycling and de-icing salts (exposure class XF4).  This gives the concrete a structure of uniformly distributed micropores, the additional volume of which reduces the pressure caused by penetrating water freezing into ice. Once laid, the roadway is cured with Emcoril Traffic grip M. This protects the newly laid material from rapid water evaporation and overdrying, thus ensuring optimum hydration in the uppermost concrete layer. Ideal for the curing of trafficked concrete surfaces – not just in road construction but also in the construction of airport runways and car parks – it also minimizes the formation of early shrinkage cracks, increases surface tensile strength and reduces the rate of carbonation.  With this mix of concrete know-how, tailored products, just-in-time production and collaborative reliability, MC has created a real Ukrainian success story in the field of concrete road and runway construction. There are currently more than 120 kilometres of concrete carriageway under construction. And MC is an integral part of each of these projects.