Table of Contents
Maintenance is the process of preserving and keeping the structure as normal as possible. We will discuss the types of road maintenance in this post.
1. Road Maintenance
Road maintenance is the process of preserving and keeping the road structure as normal as possible and practicable.
Road maintenance brings immediate and sometimes dramatic benefits through improved safety, comfort, and low vehicle operation cost.
Neglecting maintenance may lead to the complete failure of a road or may require re-construction which costs three or more times the cost of maintenance.
2. Types of Road Maintenance
There are four types of road maintenance. They are:
a. Routine Maintenance
Small-scale maintenance work conducted regularly is called routine maintenance.
It includes:
1. Sweeping of road
2. Cutting of the grasses
3. Minor reshaping of the ditches.
b. Recurrent Maintenance
Maintenance operation of the localized nature of a limited extent carried out at an interval of several months or years is called recurrent maintenance.
It includes:
1. Edges repair
2. Local Re-construction.
c. Periodic Maintenance
Maintenance operation to a large extent conducted at the interval of several years is called periodic maintenance.
It includes:
1. Re-surfacing of road
2. Repairing of the railing of bridge and culverts
3. Repairing of Earth Retaining Wall
4. Repairing of the Parapet wall
d. Emergency Maintenance
Maintenance operation conducted after 10 years of construction or in an emergency condition is called emergency maintenance.
It is carried out in the following urgent conditions:
1. Road Washout
2. Collapse of the culvert
3. Road blocked by the landslide
4. Settlement of road to a high extent.
3. Factors Affecting Road Maintenance
Usually, the following factors affect the maintenance of pavements.
1. Increase in the intensity of traffic.
Since we know that there is an increase in road transport per year by about 8%. Hence this is the major factor that influences the maintenance of roads.
2. Inadequate Thickness of Pavement.
If adequate thickness is not provided, it will result in frequent pavement failure, unevenness, and heavy patches. This results in the requirement for frequent maintenance.
4. Possible Precaution of Road Maintenance
1. An adequate drainage system should be provided that has a design flow that could last for the lifetime of the project.
On the Ring Road, there is no such provision because it causes the water table to rise and affect the pavement foundations.
2. Proper sloping ( camber ) should be kept on the road surface to remove the rainwater smoothly.
3. Make sure that the material reaches the site in the time when needed and neither earlier nor later than that.
4. In the case of asphalting, the temperature at the time of the laying of material should be within limits and according to the standards.
5. The pavement should be prepared in line with maximal expected axle loading in some regions and not more than that load should be permitted to pass over it.
6. Grade of bitumen is the most important thing to be noticed. Proper grading benchmarks should be acquired by the climate conditions, so the selection of the proper grade of bitumen is important.
7. Continuously driving in the same lane should be avoided to prevent rutting failure.
8. Proper compaction should be done to get success in the highway design.
9. If the soil does not have sufficient strength, it should be upgraded by adding some reagents. Also if required, soil can be, bring in from other places.
| Read Also: Road Pattern & Its Types |
