ROAD NETWORK IN INDIA

 TOTAL ROAD LENGTH - 48.65 lac km

 National Highways - 97,990 km
 State Highways - 1,43,188 km
 Major District Roads, Other District
Roads & Village Roads - 46,24,216 km

 The NHs comprise only 2 % of the total length of roads, but carry
over 40% of the total traffic. 30% less than 2 lane, Presence of
level crossing, Weak narrow and old bridges, Poor geometrics

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 Progress as on 31.05.15
SN NHDP Total Completed Under Balance for
Component Length length implementation award of
(km) (km) (km) works (km)

1. NHDP 54,478 23,852 11,176 19,450

2. SARDP 6,418 1,767 3,016 1,635

3. LWE 5,477 3,750 1,223 504
4. NHIIP 1,120 - 740 380
5. ADB 4,048 - 128 3,920
6. JICA 1,403 - - 1,403
7. Others 12,000 - - 12,000
Total 84,944 29,369 16,283 39,292

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New Initiatives - Bharatmala Pariyojna
 NH network all along the border proposed to facilitate
Connectivity to ports, Strategic consideration, International
connectivity
 Missing links identified involve about 5,500 km new NH
 Anticipated cost Rs 55,000 crores
 Consultation with the States /Defence is in progress
 Development will start after completion of pre-construction
 These schemes will take about 5 years for completion

3
New Initiatives - Development of Roads
under Special Scheme
SN Scheme Length Length
identified (km) declared (km)
1 Backward area 2,500 500
2 Religious places 2,400 900
3 Tourist places 1,200 -

Total: 6,100 1,400

• Stretches need to be declared as NH

• Financial implication - Rs. 65,000 crores
• Timeline - 5 years
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Selection of the type of the pavement

• Initial cost of construction,

• Availability of materials with reasonable lead,
• Cost of maintenance during the service life,
• Availability of construction technology,
• Climatic conditions in the area,
• Geology of the area
 Flexible pavements

• Flexible pavements preferred to Rigid

pavement for following reasons:
– Easy availability of bitumen,
– Adequate know-how of construction techniques
– Lower initial cost
– The Plan allocation generally being lower,
cheaper initial investment option preferred
 Flexible pavements contd.

• Flexible Pavements provide better safety of

the vehicle against snow and skidding for
low traffic volume.
• Flexible pavements are preferred because
strengthening of these roads can be done
with increase in traffic volume in
subsequent years i.e. stage construction is
possible
 Rigid Pavements

• Rigid Pavement is considered as preferred option

in following situations:
– In high rainfall areas,
– Plain areas with weak sub-grade soils,
– Locations having very heavy traffic,
– Regions where hard aggregates are not available or the
aggregate/bitumen are costly,
– Water logged areas where surface and sub-surface
drainage cannot be improved much,
– Low maintenance budget
– In built up or flood prone areas.
 Advantages of Rigid Pavement
• Vehicles consume less fuel: Vehicles consume 8-10% less
fuel on concrete roads than that on asphalt roads. This is
because of the fact that a concrete road does not get
deflected under the wheels of loaded trucks.
• Durability and maintenance free life: Rigid Pavements
have longer service life of thirty to forty years, whereas
asphalt roads last for ten years. Moreover, during this
service life concrete roads do not require frequent repair or
maintenance compared to asphalt roads.
• Due to their long service life, concrete pavements are
cheaper than flexible pavements if life cycle cost is
considered.
 Advantages of Rigid Pavement
• Resistant to automobile fuel spillage and extreme
weather:
– Concrete roads do not get damaged by the leaking oils
from the vehicles or by the extreme weather conditions
like excess rain or extreme heat.
• Greener process:
– Asphalt (bitumen) produces lots of highly polluting gases
at the time of melting it for paving. Also, less fuel
consumption by the vehicle running on a concrete road
means less pollution.
 Advantages of Rigid Pavement

• Conservation of fuel: Asphalt (bitumen)

is produced from imported petroleum, the
reserve of which is becoming reduced
drastically. On the other hand, concrete
(cement) is produced indigenously from
abundantly available limestone.
Advantages of Flexible Pavement/
Bitumen Road

• Flexible Pavement is cheaper than concrete

pavement. The extent of cost difference will
however depend on the lead of bitumen/
cement.
• It takes less time to build a Flexible
Pavement than a Concrete Pavement.
• Stage construction is possible in Flexible
pavement thereby initial investment is
further reduced.
Advantages of Flexible Pavement/
Bitumen Road
• Recyclable: Flexible Pavement is a
recyclable material. It can be used again.
• Easy maintenance: Repairing just a part of
the Flexible Pavement road is easily
possible. Asphalt roads even can be relayed
over the old layer.
• Safe: Flexible Pavement provides better
traction and skid resistance for vehicles.
Asphalt tends to help keep roads free from
ice and snow.
Disadvantages of Flexible Pavement

• Durability: heavy rain and other extreme

weather conditions damage the Flexible
Pavement, and the roads need to be repaired
frequently.
• Weather Pollution: Melting asphalt
produces lots of harmful green house gases.
Also costly petroleum is required to
produce asphalt.
 CONCRETE PAVEMENT IN INDIA

• The first major concrete road project was undertaken in

Mumbai, where more than 270 km length of major arterial as
well as link roads were resurfaced with concrete in a phased
manner during 1989-1990 to 1999-2000.
• Construction of additional two lanes (56 km length) of Delhi-
Mathura Road was another major concrete pavement project
completed in 1997.
• Mumbai- Pune Expressway (95 km long) 2x3 lanes carriage
was completed in 2003.
• Allahabad bypass on NH2 in UP 2x2 lanes having a length was
completed during 2004-2008.
 CONCRETE PAVEMENT IN INDIA
• A total of about 3,600 Kms equivalent to double lane
width of Rigid pavement have been constructed, so
far, in India through NHDP phases.
• Manual of specification and Standards for 2/4/6 lanes
for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects provide
option for construction of either flexible or rigid
pavement.
 Construction Cost
• The cost of construction of the pavement mainly depends
upon the pavement thickness which is governed by the
strength of the sub-grade soil and traffic loading, cost of
materials & their lead and cost of execution of the work.
There is a wide range of variability across the country and
is difficult to generate the average cost.
• As an illustration, a comparison of the cost has been
worked out considering the rates of various items including
DLC & PQC as per Schedule of Rates (SOR) of
Maharashtra PWD (Assuming Cement @ Rs. 266 per bag)
Cost Comparison of Flexible & Rigid Pavement (One Km)

Flexible Pavement Rigid pavement

Item Description Unit Length Breadth Depth Quantity

Rate Amount Rate Amount

Excavation
Cum 1000 30.000 0.500 15000.00 242.76 3641400 242.76 3641400.

Embankment
Cum 1000 30.000 0.500 15000.00 447.83 67173750 447.83 6717375.

Sub-grade
Cum 1000 27.520 0.500 13760.00 447.83 6162072 447.83 6162072.

GSB
Cum 1000 26.200 0.200 5240.00 991.12 5193448. 991.12 5193448.

WMM
Cum 1000 18.950 0.250 4737.50 1509.35 7150565. - -

Primer Coat 1000

Sqm 17.000 17000.00 39.77 676014. - -

DBM 1000
Cum 17.000 0.150 2550.00 10052.89 25634880 - -

Tack Coat 1000

Sqm 17.000 17000.00 38.03 646594 - -

BC 1000
Cum 17.000 0.050 850.00 11570.22 9834687 - -

DLC 11938500
Cum 1000 18.950 0.150 2842.50 - - 4200.00
.
PQC 34680000
Cum 1000 17.000 0.340 5780.00 - - 6000.00
.
68332795
TOTAL = 65657035
.
 Ministry’s Policy Circular

• MORT&H has issued a policy circular vide

letter dated 4th August,2014 on “Usage of
Rigid Pavement as an alternative option on
National Highways”.
• Life cycle cost analysis is an essential
component of infrastructure design.
• Rigid pavement will be best in the highway
projects requiring substantive construction/
up-gradation.
• Where the projects envisage minor
improvements as in the form of the paved
shoulders or widening etc., the efficacy of
the rigid pavement construction would
required to be assessed.
• The price of cement vis-a-vis bitumen varies
widely in different parts of the country
depending upon the lead from the
production centres/ refineries etc.
• Cost- benefit analysis of rigid pavement vis-
a-vis flexible pavement in each project
should be clearly brought out.
• Unless there is a price comparison within an
acceptable limits upto 20%, the use of
flexible pavements may be continued.
• Availability of cement at the macro level
will also need to be assessed.
• Rigid pavement to be the default mode of
construction.
• The agencies preparing DPRs for the
National Highway projects would be
expected to bring out the reasons why rigid
pavement could not be adopted in specific
National Highway project.