To address the perennial problems of waterlogging and potholes on Delhi roads, the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) has suggested new techniques for road construction in Delhi.
To improve the durability of the roads, the agency has suggested using techniques such as micro-surfacing that can enhance the life span of constructed roads by as much as ten years, without any repair work.
Dr S Gangopadhyay, Director CRRI said, “Besides aggravating the traffic discharge, the potholes also put a heavy burden on the economy of the city as they lead to significant fuel losses. Cost effective and environment friendly techniques such as bitumen based emulsion technology, cold mix, warm mix and fly ash technology can significantly enhance the durability of the city roads. A well laid road such as Prithviraj Road in the New Delhi district, which was surfaced using microsurfacing technology, is performing very well even after ten years. While NDMC has applied many innovative techniques both during the laying of roads and repair works, other civic agencies are yet to adopt the new age methods.”
The concerned authorities should draw up a mechanism to address the pothole problem promptly and as soon as it is reported. “Potholes require immediate repairs so that the problem is not aggravated further and does not require a lot of effort. The repair work, which is usually carried out using the hot mix technology emits fumes and affects the environment adversely. Infrared technology, which takes as less as 30 minutes to repair the road should be used as it is durable also. For this purpose, the expert body has designed an infrared patcher to carry out the repair work,” said Dr PK Jain, Chief Scientist with CRRI.
Jain added that the road owning agencies usually employ the 40mm thick bituminous method to lay the roads. However, if the technique such as Mastic Asphalt method is used, the roads could be constructed in half the price and in very short duration.
“Using the method, the repair work of Kalindi Kunj barrage, which took over two months, could have been completed in the matter of three days, without adversely affecting the traffic. Apart from this, the microsurfacing technology, which has been adopted at many NDMC areas, can reduce the cost of repair work by 30 to 40 per cent,” he said.