Study of Defects in Flexible Pavement and Its Maintenance

A well-developed transportation infrastructure is essential for economic, industrial, social and cultural development of a country. Due to this need, human being has developed three modes of transport, i.e., by land, by water and by air. The road network has expanded from 4 lakh km in 1947 to 20 lakh km in 1993 and almost 55 lakh kms as on 31 March, 2015. India has less than 3.8 kms of road per 1000 people; including all its paved and unpaved roads. In terms of quality, all season, four or more lane highways; India has less than 0.07 kms of highway per 1000 people as of 2010. Inadequate maintenance of roads accounts to an act of disinvestment and sacrifice of past investment in roads. Roads have been receiving decreasing share of total Five Year Plan expenditure (decreasing from 6.7% in first plan to 3% in second plan). The Vehicle Operating Cost increases at a rapid rate as the condition of existing pavements starts deteriorating. The loss due to bad conditions of the main road network would be around Rs.12000 crore per annum. The purpose of the proposed study is to identify the defects in flexible pavements in highway system. For this study some test sections were identified on SH-4,(now upgraded as NH 205-A) in Punjab from Kharar to Landran, District S.A.S Nagar (Mohali). The parameters influencing the performance of flexible pavements will also be identified. For efficient maintenance of road pavements, the deficiencies in our existing highway system need to be clearly understood. All type of distresses/defects needs to be classified with causes and treatment as per different severity level.