Rural Roads

Introduction

The Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) has been one of the most successful flagship programmes launched by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000 for constructing a wide network of rural roads across India. During the last 17 years, a total of 5,29,975 km of PMGSY roads have been constructed connecting villages of over 500 people, which is a commendable task!

Two technologies (surface dressing and premix carpet) are specified in India’s ‘Rural Roads Manual’ for bituminous surfacing of rural roads such as those under PMGSY. Either of these two technologies are permitted. Both are also standardized by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).

Surface dressing (also called chip seal) consists of spraying a thick film of bitumen over the compacted stone base layer (called water bound macadam) with the help of a bitumen truck tank distributor at a specified rate. This is followed by spreading stone chips (aggregate) at a specified rate by a mechanized chip spreader (available from many manufacturers in Gujarat and costing less than Rs. 2.5 lakhs). Stone chips are then compacted with a road roller so as to embed/fix them (about 70%) into the sprayed thick bitumen layer. This completes the surface dressing operation as illustrated in Figure 1.

The premix carpet (PMC) simply consists of single size (about 12 mm) stone chips mixed with 3.5% bitumen by weight at a hot mix plant. PMC is highly open graded because the mix does not contain any fine aggregate (sand). This mix is laid in 20 mm thickness manually or with a paver. A sand seal coat is provided at the top.

The objective of this paper is to discuss these two technologies in detail and recommend the one which is better both in terms of durability and economics.

History of Bituminous Surfacing

Rural Roads
When the author was serving as a highway engineer in the Rajasthan PWD during the early 1960s, it was very common to use bituminous surface dressing (SD) or chip sealing on most types of roads. Surface dressing was very effective in water-proofing the water-bound macadam (WBM) roads because of heavy bitumen application rate followed by chip application. Surface dressing was scheduled once in 3 or 4 years on all roads. Very few potholes dotted the roads at that time, and traffic volumes were generally less. Road construction was largely manual and hardly mechanized. Bitumen for surface dressing was applied with perforated tin cans. Spreading the surface aggregate (chips) by hand was an art learnt through practice, usually by swirling the basket containing the aggregate.

This is a premium article available exclusively for our subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, please Login
If not, subscribe now and get access to well researched articles & reports on infrastructure construction, equipment & machinery, innovations & technology, project reports, case studies, and more. All this by simply paying just ₹200/- for a month of complete portal access, or a discounted rate of ₹1000/- for a full year of access.
Dynapac Machines Deployed on Prestigious Palkhi Marg Project in Maharashtra
The Palkhi Marg holds deep significance as a pathway of faith for devotees of Lord Vitthal. Every year, thousands of ‘warkaris’ embark on a spiritual journey to the temple town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra. With the vision to create a Bhakti Marg and ensure

Read more ...

Delhi Vadodara Expressway Package-1 An overview
The Delhi-Vadodara Expressway is a part of the most anxiously awaited Delhi-Mumbai Expressway - the foundation stone for which was laid on March 8th 2019. Also referred to as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, it is planned as part of the Bharatmala

Read more ...

Bonded Rigid Pavement - A New Edge Concrete Pavement
The exponential growth of the highway infrastructure in the past two decades has increased demand for long-lasting, durable pavements. Rigid pavements are suitable for heavily trafficked areas and are found to be performing satisfactorily with minimum

Read more ...

BRO Builds ‘Zero Fatality Corridors’ in Arunachal Pradesh
Through its unwavering commitment to road safety, eco-conscious practices, and visionary solutions, the Border Roads Organisation is elevating the standard of road infrastructure development in India. In Arunachal Pradesh, its contributions

Read more ...

Engineering Measures for Pothole Prevention
Roads, pavements, and other paved surfaces have depressions in them called potholes which are caused by a variety of conditions. They not only present a serious risk to traffic and pedestrians, but also necessitate expensive repairs by local governments and

Read more ...

Pavement Marking Essential For Road Safety
Vivek Singh, Founder, BuildStreet delves into the significance of pavement marking, its objective, and importance, with a focus on Hot Applied Thermoplastic paint - the predominant choice for road markings in India, its technical aspects, application methodology

Read more ...

GAEPL Achieves Record Paving of 100 lane-km in 100 hours
Ghaziabad Aligarh Expressway Private Limited (GAEPL), under the guidance of Cube Highways, has set an example of speedy, safe, and sustainable road construction through research, integration of advanced technology, following best international practices

Read more ...

Indian Companies Delivering Projects Overseas
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar during his visit interacted with the workers and the senior staff, and lauded the role of Indian infra companies, saying that he was “impressed by their enthusiasm”. “Strong economics will complement shared values in taking

Read more ...

NHAI awards 6,003 km of highway projects in FY23
According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the infra project awarding activity picked up and gathered pace in Q4 of FY23, with NHAI awarding total projects of 6,003 km in FY23, much below its FY23 target of 6,500 km. The total value of projects awarded

Read more ...

Is the Indian Road Sector Navigating a Smooth Journey?
This report covers the current state of the Indian Road Sector, performance of road projects under Hybrid Annuity Model, financial performance of major road developers, and the outlook for FY24. CareEdge Ratings analysed 235 HAM projects awarded between

Read more ...

Balanced Mix Design for Bituminous Mixes
As more than 90% of the roads in India have bituminous surfacing, a proper bituminous mix design also assumes significance for better performance of the bituminous roads. India is currently witnessing huge investments by the Indian Government towards

Read more ...

Sustainable Road Construction in Hilly Region
Siksha Swaroopa Kar, Principal Scientist, Amit Kumar, Technical Officer, Krishan, Technician, Flexible Pavement Division, CSIR-CRRI, New Delhi, discuss mechanized laying of cold bituminous layer, the mixer and paver that have been fabricated, and the effectiveness

Read more ...

Implementation of Road Maintenance Management System - Benefits & Technologies
The maintenance of road pavements is essential to ensure the safety, reliability, and sustainability of road networks. A road maintenance management system (RMMS) involves effective management of resources to optimize the life cycle of roads, reduce maintenance

Read more ...

Replacement of Steel Reinforcement with  Synthetic Fibre for Concrete Pavement & Floor
Manoj Didwania, Adani Total Gas Ltd, Dharamsinh Desai University (DDU-Nadiad), Cept University, presents a paper on the use of Macro Synthetic Reinforcement Fibre (MSRF) as full or partial replacement of Steel Reinforcement for Concrete Pavement

Read more ...

GTI® Reinforced Soil Slope System
GTI® is involved in developing environmentally friendly construction products and systems, which are critical for achieving infrastructure growth in a sustainable manner. The company’s GTI® Sloping Fascia Unit and the new system GTI® Reinforced Soil Slopes

Read more ...

CRISIL: Debt to rise for road developers amid strong revenue growth
Sizeable equity commitments in under-construction projects and rising working capital requirement will increase the debt burden of road developers, though revenue growth will also be high in the next two fiscals driven by strong awarding and execution

Read more ...

Indian Toll Roads to witness moderation in growth to high single digits in FY2024 after a stellar 17-20% growth in FY2023: ICRA
WPI for December 2022 is significantly lower at 5.0% against WPI of 14.27% in December 2021. ICRA Ratings expects the toll road projects growth to moderate to high single digit in FY2024 after a 17-20% growth witnessed in FY2023 with moderation in the

Read more ...

Road Over Umling-La Pass at 19,024 Feet
Construction of World’s Highest Motorable Road Chismule – Demchok In Eastern Ladakh Using Non-Frost Susceptible Sub-Base. Union Territory of Ladakh is located at approx 11,000 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The area experiences extreme cold

Read more ...

BRO Uses Eco-Friendly Steel Slag For Road Construction
Steel slag, a by-product of steel making, is produced during the separation of the molten steel from impurities in steelmaking furnaces. This process generates slag as a molten liquid melt and is a complex solution of silicates and oxides that solidifies

Read more ...

Potholes to become history breakthrough by Zydex
Vadodara-based Zydex Industries has developed a new technology in road construction that enables roads to resist cracking under heavy traffic loads and cyclic weather variations. The speciality chemicals company has been at the forefront of R&D and implementation

Read more ...