Proof in thirty seconds. A clod of natural soil, mixed with the binder and compacted. Once cured, it is as hard as stone.
500truck round trips avoided per kilometre
1 tankerof product for the whole site
2 daysbetween compaction and opening to traffic
3 machinesof standard civil-works equipment, nothing more
15 yearsA road in Zimbabwe still in service, with no major repairs
48 hUnder water in Brazil, the treated area stayed intact
Certified testsMT Lab, Canada. Validated up to military airfield runways
20 countriesPatented technology, proven on 4 continents
The principle
Soil is not the problem. Water is.
Dry, well-compacted earth bears loads perfectly well. What destroys a road is the water that seeps into it: the soil loses cohesion, traffic deforms it, and every rainy season makes the damage worse. The conventional method works around the problem by digging this soil out and replacing it with aggregates hauled in from far away.
NOVAROADS tackles the problem at its source. The plant-based binder, spread and then mixed in, binds the fine particles of the soil in place. After compaction, water no longer moves through the mass: the ground itself becomes the load-bearing structure.
Conventional road
The existing soil is dug out and replaced. Everything that carries the road comes from elsewhere.
Soil treated in place
Nothing is dug out: the foundation is the ground itself, treated and compacted. On a heavy-traffic road, 3 cm of asphalt is enough instead of 12.
The process applies where soil characteristics allow it. A prior geotechnical analysis determines whether the ground is suitable and how the treatment is formulated.
On site
Four steps, three machines, two days of curing.
Footage filmed on site, on lateritic soil. No quarry to open, no asphalt plant, no fleet of trucks: just standard equipment, available or rentable locally.
Swipe to see all 4 steps →
1
Ripping
The grader scarifies the existing road to a depth of up to 20 cm. Old surfacing, potholes and ruts are broken up and worked back in: nothing is hauled away.
Grader
2
Spreading the binder
The plant-based binder, diluted in the tanker's water, is spread and then mixed through the full treated depth. All the product for the site fits in one tanker.
Spray tanker
3
Compaction
A 10 to 12 tonne roller densifies the treated soil. The voids disappear, the road becomes impermeable and gains its bearing capacity.
10 to 12 t roller
4
Check
After 48 hours of curing, the road is tested on site: it does not crumble, rut or turn to dust. The road is open.
Day 2 · open to traffic
NOVAROADS supplies the binder, the engineering, the geotechnical protocol and crew training. Local operators, even with no prior technical qualification, are trained on site: the know-how stays in the country.
Pricing
Materials are not what costs money. Moving them is.
On one kilometre of conventional road, some 500 truck round trips haul away spoil and bring in aggregates. Each one burns fuel, wears out vehicles and ties up drivers. Treating the soil in place eliminates these trips. What they are worth depends on where you are, which is why every price is set locally.
What drives the price of your project
01
Distance to quarries and ports
The further aggregates, cement and bitumen have to travel, the more a conventional road costs, and the more difference treating in place makes.
02
Soil type
The geotechnical analysis sets the binder dosage and the treated depth. A clay soil is not treated like laterite.
03
Local equipment and labour
Hiring the grader, tanker and roller, like the cost of the crews, varies from one country to another and feeds straight into the price.
04
Chosen finish
Bare treated soil, surface dressing, thin asphalt or concrete paving: the finish follows the expected traffic and changes the final price.
05
Programme size
Length, width and phasing determine how crews are organised and what it costs to mobilise the site.
06
Binder delivery
The product travels in small volumes, but shipping it to the site and import formalities vary by destination.
A comparative costing, prepared for your site
After the soil analysis, NOVAROADS prices your project under your country's conditions and sets it against the equivalent conventional solution on the same site. You compare two real prices for the same works, not an average.
Cement, bitumen and aggregates paid for in foreign currency
A small volume of product
Local benefits
Limited
Jobs, equipment and skills kept locally
Applications
Wherever vehicles drive, park or manoeuvre.
The soil treatment stays the same. Only the finish changes with traffic: none, surface dressing, thin asphalt or concrete paving.
Motorways and heavy-traffic routes
National and access roads
Urban and municipal streets
Farm and rural tracks
Industrial platforms
Logistics and port yards
Car parks
Mining, forestry and oil-field access roads
Airfield runways
Full signage on request: signs, road markings, smart traffic lights, speed display signs.
Compressed earth block with a luminescent finish, photographed without lighting.
Luminescent surfacing
Light up a town, a site or a villa, without a single street light
An eco-friendly surfacing that gives back at night the light it absorbs by day. It makes paths and tracks safer and gives your entrances a unique visual identity.
8 hof glow after a day of exposure, with no cables, no poles and no electrical connection. Available in 32 colours.
Public authorities
Make safe the paths that street lighting does not reach
Running cables and installing street lights is expensive, especially far from the grid. The surfacing marks out the route at night for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
Cycle paths and greenways
Footpaths, parks and school surroundings
Rural paths far from the power grid
Businesses and private clients
Give your entrances a unique character
Bring a touch of magic to your paths and private roads, or to the entrances of your venues. The colour matches your company's visual identity or the atmosphere of your property.
The same principle produces masonry blocks from the site's own earth, compressed directly on site. A housing, school or clinic programme can make its materials on site instead of importing them.
2×stronger than blocks made with 10% cement
48 to 72 hof drying in the shade
0 kilnsno cement, no imported materials
Case study carried out with the ECOBRICX liquid formula. Requirement: a soil containing at least 10% cohesive fines (clays, silts).
Stronger blocks than ever. Formed at a moisture content just below optimum, then dried in a shaded, ventilated area.Quality buildings. Social housing, schools, clinics, farm buildings and boundary walls are all within scope.
It covers an area of your choice and commits you to nothing. If your soil is not suitable, it stops there. If it is, you receive a costing based on your country's conditions, and you decide on the basis of measurements, not a presentation.
Soil analysisSampling and characterisation: is the process right for your ground?
Monitored pilotA test section is built, then measured by an independent laboratory.
Full reportTechnical, economic and environmental assessment, compared with the conventional solution.
