In regard to edge sealing, the following reasonable solution definitely extends the durability of a pavement and has been adopted in German practice (Milster et al., 2004):
• An extra layer of tack coat (of hot binder) is placed on the edges of pavement (between the layers), minimum 10 cm wide.
• A binder layer, minimum 2 mm thick, on a side surface of all layers, is applied (to achieve such a layer of binder, the tack coating usually needs to be repeated, or a hot sealant 2 mm thick needs to be applied in one working cycle).
This sealing is aimed at protecting the pavement against water infiltration between layers and inside them.
Before opening up a road section with a new SMA layer to traffic, one should be sure that it has sufficiently cooled. Letting traffic go on an SMA layer while it is still warm may cause its premature rutting and the squeezing-out of the mastic. Some regulations stipulate that the opening to traffic may happen no sooner than 24 hours after finishing the placement, or at least, when the temperature in the middle of a layer drops to 30°C. The common practice is to delay the opening to traffic until the moment that the layer temperature drops to the air temperature. When an earlier opening to traffic is necessary, only light vehicle traffic should be allowed.
