ABSTRACT
Surface dressing has been practised in the UK for over 90 years, and longer still in other countries like France and Australia. However, the development of specifications for the process only started in the 1930s with full-scale road experiments conducted by the (then) Road Research Laboratoryl. Its effectiveness as an economic road maintenance measure has led to an increased appreciation and use by road engineers. Over the past five years, an annual average of 60 million m2 of surface dressing has been undertaken by member companies of the Road Surface Dressing Association2; this accounts for around half of the total dressing carried out in the UK.
