Has Kenya Now Gotten The Solution To Our Pothole Nightmare?

The menace and inconvenience of potholes on Kenyans roads could finally be a thing of the past, following Avery East Africa's introduction of a new machine that can fill potholes in two minutes.  The new technology will greatly improve the speed and efficiency of road rehabilitation while reducing the costs. The new Velocity Road Repair Machine can carry out up to 150 long-lasting pothole repairs per day.

The machine is the first of its kind in Kenya and the region and the second in Africa, following its successful launch in South Africa. The machines that are more efficient, more effective and much cleaner in effecting road repairs. A patching lorry that carries the Jetpatcher that can be operated by even one person.

Material-delivery is powered via a truck’s PTO (power take off) and is all computer controlled with air flow capable of being varied. The machine’s operator role is to play beyond ensuring that the delivery nozzle is positioned correctly during repair. Two buttons situated at the nozzle control air flow during cleaning out the area to be repaired (high air flow) and then delivering bond coat (lower flows of air, to prevent over-spray) immediately prior to delivery of the repair material itself.

Beyond this, the computer takes over, ensuring that the optimum spread and penetration of bitumen binder occurs as the binder and aggregate are delivered to repair the defect. At the start of each repair, the air flow is low to begin with, increasing in volume as the aggregate flow increases. This substantially reduces the aggregate spatter caused by the old machines. The job is noticeably cleaner with less loose material around the repair.

This in turn means less debris to clean up, after the repair material has been blown into place and less wastage of virgin material. The fact that initial delivery of aggregate is computer controlled means that early individual pieces of aggregate are not being propelled at excessively high speed, and not causing high levels of abrasion.

At the end of each repair, air flow is automatically increased, this time to further clean the area. Using the high volume of air just before and after patching cuts the overall time needed to do the job, saving up to 20% time per repair. 

Watch how the machine works in the video below.

The traditional method of repair we are used to in Kenya involves a gang of up to five people kitted out with shovels, buckets and wheelbarrows, and a lorry-load of asphalt. They clear and fill the holes, then use a roller or whacker to smooth the surface.  Sometimes they need to dig out the damaged road surface before filling begins. And the patch may need to dry overnight before a layer of micro-asphalt can be laid on top.

The Jetpatcher does all this in one smooth operation, then moves on to the next pothole as traffic resumes its path over the newly repaired road.

This new velocity patching machines can be equipped with advanced vehicle tracking and monitoring systems that enables the performance of each vehicle to be audited (with the audit electronically recorded) and their operating systems to be updated if needed.

The pothole menace that has affected Kenyan motorists for years is set to end, following the introduction of the globally acclaimed and hi-tech road and pot-hole maintenance technology.