PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE STUDY FOR FOUR LANE HIGHWAY

Abstract

Economic losses due to poor roads in India amount to a huge sum. Due to the poor condition of roads, it is estimated that an annual loss of approximately over Rs. 6000 crores is resulted in vehicle operating costs (VOC) alone. Any neglect in the maintenance is self defeating as one rupee spent in maintenance saves 2 to 3 rupees in vehicle operating cost. India, having one of the largest road networks of 42.36 lakh km, consists of National Highways, Expressways, State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District Roads and Rural Roads. National Highways account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country. It should be borne in mind that for achieving the desired economic growth, the foremost requirement is to ensure a good and effective road network. In the present thesis, an effort has been made to review the various studies done abroad as well as in India in the field of pavement performance study. The performance concept is so generic that in normal understanding, it can include roughness, distress, skid resistance, and structural adequacy. Pavement performance study helps in arriving at the most appropriate maintenance and rehabilitation activity or remedial measures, suitable for a particular section of the road as per the availability of the funds. The objective of this study is to develop a systematic procedure that would predict the most economical maintenance and for a particular pavement section. In view of universal recognition of HDM-4 system, it has been used for the development of maintenance management system for the selected sections of four lane highway. A systematic methodology for maintenance management system of four lane identified National Highway network has been developed. This methodology includes identification and selection of the National Highway network and data acquisition for Indian conditions. The pavement condition data on all sections of the highway network was collected at the end of year 2010 by Kumar, D., using various types of equipments and methods. The pavement condition data on these pavement sections was collected once again by the end of year 2011, using the same types of equipments and methods, so as to ascertain the annual progression of distresses during the year 2010 to 2011. iii The total budget requirements for maintenance management of the selected sections of four lane highway network have been determined for maintenance and rehabilitation work. The presented methodology would be useful to the highway agencies in planning pavement maintenance strategies in a scientific manner for four lane highways to ensure rational utilization of limited maintenance funds. Based on present study, it is recommended to develop similar kind of maintenance strategy for other categories of roads such as State Highways and Major District Roads. The scope of present study may be extended for the development of maintenance management system of the National Highway network having rigid pavements. Keywords: Pavement Performance Study, Four Lane Highway, Maintenance, HDM-4 iv