Kazakhstan is working on the development of new national standards for road construction, which are designed to take into account climatic conditions and traffic intensity when selecting materials for asphalt concrete pavements.

These changes are aimed at improving the durability and serviceability of roads, which is particularly important given the country's severe climate.

The new standards are being developed by the Kazakhstan Road Research Institute (KazdorNII), responsible for developing and implementing new technologies in the road industry. In 2024, following an assignment from the Committee of Highways of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan, KazdorNII worked to develop three national standards based on Superpave principles that take into account the specific climate of Kazakhstan. This system allows selecting optimal compositions of asphalt concrete mixes that are resistant to significant temperature changes, which minimizes the number of repairs and extends the service life of roads.

Among the standards being developed this year are:

• ST RK “Bitumen and bituminous binders. Procedure for determining the grade according to the PG classification” — this standard will allow the country's climatic conditions to be taken into account when selecting bituminous binders and ensure their optimal performance characteristics.
• ST RK “Public roads. Asphalt concrete road mixes and asphalt concrete. System of volumetric and functional design. Design rules” — aimed at designing asphalt concrete pavement compositions that meet the requirements of climatic conditions and operational loads.
• ST RK “Bitumen and bituminous binders. Technical conditions taking into account operational transport loads”— introduces a key indicator for transport loads, which allows the correct selection of materials for real operating conditions.
• ST RK “Crushed stone-mastic asphalt concrete mixes and asphalt concrete. Technical conditions” — eliminates discrepancies in the assessment of SMA and SMA mix indicators between different interested parties, and introduces international testing methods.

The draft new standards are available on the website of the National Standardization Body (www.ksm.kz) in the section “Discussion” – “Standards” – “Discussion of ST RK drafts”. All interested parties in the road industry can send their suggestions and comments to kense@qazjolgzi.kz.