Operational Maintenance Strategies for Roads and Highways

 Dr. S. S. Seehra, Chief Pavement,Materials & Geotech Engineer, Span Consultants Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi

Introduction

Connectivity between towns, cities and different areas is an essential component in the development of a Nation. Roads and Railways provide this connectivity. High speed road corridors have been one of the most vital infrastructure in the overall socio–economic development of the country. In the past few years Government of India has taken up development of this important infrastructure on priority basis in a big way and the national road network has improved a lot when compared to the situation a decade ago. The network of existing highways and expressways is now showing signs of premature failure due to cumulative effect of inadequate maintenance and structural inadequacies to cater the need of increased traffic volume and heavy axle loads.

In many situations lack of proper drainage is the principal cause for the failure of the highway pavement structure. The maintenance funds for highways allotted by the central and state governments has been reducing and due to this reduction of available fund the task of preserving and maintaining highway assets is becoming increasingly complex and difficult.