Innovative paving process comes to Coweta

by Sarah Fay Campbell

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A British company with an innovative road patching system has recently begun operating at the Shenandoah Industrial Park.

Velocity Road Solutions is located on Amlajack Way, in the same location as its sister company, Pearson Engineering. Pearson, a U.S. Department of Defense contractor, has been in Coweta for two years.

Velocity did a patching demonstration for Coweta County officials last week.

The cold asphalt system is very quick and efficient — taking only about 10 minutes to patch the asphalt, with only two, or possibly three, people needed to do the job.

Velocity has been using the system in Great Britain for years. They first came to Newnan a year ago. Since Pearson already had the facility, “we decided that would be a good base for us in the U.S.,” said Dominick Gardner, managing director of the U.K. division, Velocity Patching. From the Newnan base, they went to South Carolina and did some demonstrations.

“The trial was so successful, we determined that we needed” a location in the U.S., Gardner said. The actual machine is manufactured in the U.K. It is then shipped to Coweta where the final assembly work is done and everything is mounted on a Freightliner truck.

The company will start hiring U.S. employees in the next few weeks, to drive and operate the machinery, said Jensen Matthew, CEO of U.S. operations.

Coweta County Commission Chairman Bob Blackburn said he is impressed with the road patching system but “what I am most fired up about is another quality international company finding Coweta as an attractive place to put their headquarters.”

Both Pearson and Velocity are owned by Reece Group LTD.

“They are tremendous in size,” said Blackburn. “For them to locate in Coweta County is quite a statement for what we have to offer.”

Whether or not Coweta County uses the company for road patching, “I know statewide, other cities will definitely reap the benefit of Velocity being in Georgia and in the U.S.,” Blackburn said. Blackburn said he will be sharing information about it with his fellow commissioners to “see if it is a good fit for Coweta County.”

The first step of the process is using compressed air to blow out any debris or loose pavement in the area to be patched. Then a cold emulsion is sprayed over the area. “It’s more or less a tack coat,” Matthew said. Then a mixture of “aggregate” and emulsion is sprayed over, “sealing up the pavement and performing the repair at the same time.” Then the patch is leveled off.

It’s good for everything from alligator cracks to pot holes, and is proven to last at least a year. Matthew said there are some patches in England that have held for 10 years on primary roads with heavy truck traffic.

The same patch that the Velocity equipment can do in 10 or 20 minutes might take a crew of several people six to eight hours, Matthew said.

They plan on doing demonstrations for other cities and counties soon.