Another road-laying exercise begins

Another road-laying exercise begins
Considering The Quality Of Earlier Road Repair Works, Smooth Ride May Still Be A Dream
The Times of India

Bangalore: Another exercise of road-relaying has commenced and this time, emphasis is on the rain-ravaged stretches.

A few roads have already seen fresh coat of tar and the ride is smooth. But how long will these roads last is a curious question,
considering the quality of roads the BMP builds. Not to forget, none other than the Lok Ayukta himself has exposed that roads were nowhere close to the prescribed standards.

According to BMP engineers, works have been split into two components. Pothole filling and road repairs. First, potholes are being filled up with cold tar and are dusted with quarry dust. The next is road repairs. Technically, any road repair work will have two layers of asphalt — bottom layer of 20mm to 40mm thickness of bitumen macadam for the rectification of camber followed by 40mm thickness of bituminous concrete layer. On this, a road roller has to pass at least 12 to 24 times for the asphalt to settle down.

Now cut to the workspot. Instead of the prescribed 80 mm thickness of both bitumen macadam and bituminous concrete layers, roads are laid with an asphalt mix of 45mm to 50 mm. And instead of a minimum of 12 rounds of road roller, it will only be about five to six times. What more, one spell of rain and the roads open up!

“We have strictly told the contractors to adhere to the standards and so far, the work is going on well. We will penalise the contractor in case the standards are not adhered to,’’ engineers said.

According to experts, the standards for laying a new road is as follows: As per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) specification, roads can be resurfaced once in three to five years if the road is built as per the specified standards.

A good road has to have four layers — the base layer with a gravel sub-base which is minimum one foot thick; then is the metalling with either water-bound macadam or wet mix macadam. The third layer is of bituminous macadam which is 50-75 mm thick. The fourth and the top layer is a protective tier which is called mix seal. It has to have a thickness of 25 mm.

A road with this specification costs Rs 50 lakh per km for 3.5 metre carriageway and Rs one crore per km for seven metre carriageway.
“Instead of laying the four required layers, work is completed by laying just two layers and the result is less lifespan. Any high capacity road needs recoating of asphalt at least once in five years and the city roads have to be asphalted once in three years,’’ experts say.How much did BCC spend on roads

• Laying blacktop for all roads — Rs 25.29 crore in 2003-04; in 2004-05 it was Rs 100 crore.
• Maintenance and road repairs — Rs 58 lakh in 2003-04; Rs 8 crore in 2004-05.
• Redoing of cut portions — Rs 2.18 crore in 2003-04; the previous year allocation was Rs 1 crore.
• Formation, widening and metalling of zonal roads — Rs 18.73 crore last year; the previous year it was Rs 7 crore.
• Asphalting of zonal roads — Rs 11.67 crore last year; Rs 44.88 crore for 2004-05.