Sprayline Road Services - Geelong.

Above: an adjoining paddock on the road to Hopetoun. The weather is closing in.

On the road to Hopetoun

Today it’s a little bit overcast, and there’s a cold wind. A convoy of around twelve Sprayline Road Services vehicles are on the Rainbow-Hopetoun Road sealing a 3km section. Home is a long way away, their depot in Geelong is four and half hours to the south and they’ve been away for the week.

Rain is forecast, and they’ve already lost a day to the weather.

On-site there’s already been some delay. The road surface is too cold. It needs to be at least 15º c before any new bitumen can be applied. But the sun is out and it’s not long before the trucks are rolling.

Mercifully the passing traffic is infrequent

The warning and speed limit signs that have been posted along the entire length of the new work, seem to be doing the job. Not always the case in many other areas.

“I must be doing something right” says a Sprayline traffic controller. “This is my third season.”

At the other end, the bitumen sprayer has just taken off.

“This job should only take us a few hours,” says Peter Riley, the crew’s Team Leader. “After this, we move on to another section on the Henty”

Above: the bitumen sprayer begins his run.

The Henty Highway, a B class road is 20km to the east. There’s no sign of rain but the radio is full of warnings. A lack of mobile coverage means any monitoring of changing weather conditions is almost impossible.

Peter Riley, using his digital tablet attempts to go through the established COVID safe procedures and check me in.

“Have you been in contact with anyone that has COVID?” he asks.

“No”

Peter tries to log the answer. The tablet is unresponsive.

“Hang on”

Again, poor mobile phone coverage is complicating the job.

A call comes over the portable radio set.

“Does anyone know what the job number is?”

Peter is unfazed. Perhaps this happens a lot. We finish the check-in procedure 

“Are you over 65 years old?” 

“No” I respond but I’m puzzled. Do I look over 65?

“What happens if you’re 66?” I ask

“We have to assess you to make sure you are fit enough to stay onsite,” he says.

I make a mental note to give up drinking beer. And eating diary. 

Today’s job is straightforward, and everyone knows what they need to do. They’ve done it a thousand times.

However, spraying molten bitumen is dangerous. And reversing tip trucks dropping the aggregate over the top is just as dangerous. A lot of bad things can happen.

Above: the aggregate is spread by reversing tip trucks, a hazardous work practice. It's being progressively phased out as newer, forward spreading machines are deployed.

Jamie Hollander is driving the vehicle which will apply the bitumen. It’s a Scania G500 and it’s got less than 6k on the clock.

The cabin of the Scania is well ordered, and the exterior of the vehicle still looks pretty shiny.

Jamie is in his fifth season of working for Sprayline Road Services.

His job is crucial and it's essential that everything works as it should.

“There are gas burners in the truck which are used to maintain the temperature of the bitumen. I run it out at 195 º “ he says.

At that temperature, it’s hot enough to inflict third-degree burns.

His job is not only to spray the road surface but refill the vehicle when empty. He monitors the refilling process and checks the incoming bitumen filters for debris.

He holds out a handful. Chunky pieces of crude, leftover from the manufacturing process.

“These will block the sprayers,” he says.

“Then everything stops”

Above: Most raw bitumen contains impurities such as these. These chunks must be filtered out if the spraying process is to be successful