Slowing down for bedding down

Bedding down new seal, also called 'trafficating' or 'down seal, is one of the most effective ways of compacting new chip seal on the road after it has been put down.

It simply involves getting traffic on the road to help push the road chips down into the seal by driving across it.

Using this methodology, with vehicle speeds of around 30km hour, has been proven to reduce chip seal defects by approximately 65%. In fact, it exceeds the compaction achievable using rollers – according to NZTA studies.

Using our new robotic cone trucks, called Conan, we are able to methodically and more precisely move the traffic to different parts of the road to enable vehicles to evenly compact the chip.

We appreciate that this process is frustrating for road users, but it ultimately of course produces a better seal that will less likely need resurfacing.

So, if you come across our trucks doing this, please slow down and help us out.

You can learn more about how our trucks are bedding down seal in our video.