SALIENT FEATURES OF MAINTENANCE OF ROADS

(By Dr.R.Krishnasamy, Divisional Engineer(H), C&M, Perambalur)

The specifications and methods of Maintenance of roads and Bridges are given section 3000 of “SPEFICATIONS FOR ROAD AND BRIDGE WORKS” and Chapter-14 of “POCKET BOOK FOR HIGHWAY ENGINEERS” Published by Indian Roads Congress.

The above Specifications are mandatory and to be scrupulously followed for carrying out maintenance activities of the roads and bridges. The maintenance activities of the roads may be broadly classified as below:

  1. Maintenance of roads in summer season or normal maintenance.
  2. Maintenance of roads in rainy season.
  3. Maintenance of roads during natural calamities.
  1. Maintenance of roads in summer season or normal maintenance.

Maintenance of roads during summer season may be further divided as:

1.1Maintenance of carriageway

1.2Maintenance of Berms

1.3Maintenance of CD works

1.4Maintenance of L.S drains

1.5Maintenance of Embankments

1.1 Maintenance of carriageway

  • Attending Cracks / Ruts / Hungry surfaces

a)Sealing the cracks

b)Filling the cracks

  • Attending patches
  • Attending potholes
  • Attending bleeding surfaces
  • Attending fatty surfaces
  • Attending wheel tracks
  • Attending Heave-ups
  • Attending sunken portions
  • Maintenance of Roads at Junctions
  • Attending sliding portions
  • Maintenance of Cement concrete pavements
  • Maintenance of signages

1.2 Maintenance of Berms

  • Clearing of bushes and Jungles
  • Slopes of berms
  • Repainting and Relettering of KM / HM Stones / Guard Stones
  • Clearing of Water Stagnation
  • Filling of Gullies
  • Black and White banding of avenue trees
  • Fixing of Reflective stickers
  • Pruning of branches of avenue trees which are obstructing the traffic
  • Removal of dead trees
  • Maintenance of CD works
  • The bushes and jungles should be cleared
  • The vent ways of the CD works should be cleared
  • L.S Drains should be connected to be CD Works
  • Maintenance of L.S drains
  • The Longitudinal slope drains along the Roads should be cleared to the proper slope and should be connected to the CD Works.
  • The bushes and the soils filled in the drain due to the damages in the slopes of drains should be cleared.
  • The L.S Drains are very important in the aspect of road maintenance since they help in obstructing the continuity of flownets and capillary rise of ground water table in the embankment portions.
  • By keeping the L.S Drains in a Proper way maximum failures in the formation can be avoided
  • Maintenance of embankments
  • The gullies formed due to the rain should be closed
  • If revetment is provided in the high embankments,pointing should be maintained properly
  • The revetment stones should be intact.
  • Vegetations should be cleared from the revetment
  • Seeds of grass may be sowed in the slopes of embankment immediately after the constructions of embankments before the soil loses its moisture content.
  1. Maintenance of roads in rainy season
  1. Preparatory works
  • Preparation of sand bags and stacking at vulnerable points
  • Procurement of casuarina poles / Props and coir ropes
  • Procurement of danger taps
  • Preparation of Wooden barricading
  1. During / after the rain
  • Stagnant water should be cleared immediately
  • Potholes and sunken portions should be attended immediately
  • Wind-fallen trees should be cleared immediately
  • Functioning of L.S Drains and CD Works should be ensured
  • Any cloaks in the CD Works should be cleared
  • Gangs should be deployed to supervise the each and every culverts / Bridges
  1. Maintenance of roads during natural calamities
  • Gangs should be posted on both the sides of the vulnerable locations
  • Traffic should be closed immediately at the vulnerable locations
  • Barricading should be done on both the sides of breaches
  • Red flags should erected on the barricades
  • Sand bags should be stacked at the breaches
  • casuarina poles should be used to retain the sand bags