Apparently thicker is better — at least when it comes to paving roads. The critical thing is good design; If you can’t afford a good design, I tell agencies and municipalities, you can’t afford to waste your money on a poor design — you’ll just be throwing your money away.

Besides that lift is important and urged opting for more thickness to ensure better roads and longevity. Unfortunately, costs drive agencies to go for minimum thickness, “Pavement wears from the top but falls apart from the bottom.”

With limited budget and a growing number of kilometres to pave, owners cut back but will pay for it in the long run because those installations will fail long before they should and start to pothole and crack.

There are clear indications that approximately 80% of the total accummulated erosion over the life of the roads occurs within the first year of the construction. Of that,most of it is directly linked to the construction phase.The pitiable conditions of new could be felt any where.So better techniques while framing the proposals could result better and long durable roads.

One of the proven technologies for the use of local soil and marginal aggregates is
stabilization. The stabilization can be mechanical or chemical and several types of stabilizing
agents have proved to be suitable under different conditions of soil and environment. The soil
stabilization techniques include:
•
Stabilization with lime.
•
Stabilization with cement.
•
Stabilization with a combination of lime and cement
Even though specifications for soil stabilization are included in both MoRT&H and
MoRD book of specifications their adoption is not getting popular, due to problems associated
in attaining homogeneity of soil-stabilizer mix in the field and achieving the desired results.
The only constraint in the use of the above techniques lies on the procedures adopted in the
field. It is possible to popularize the use of stabilization techniques through appropriate
training and capacity building of the field engineers. Further, development of low end
technology equipment, for use in the rural roads also facilitates wider use of these methods.
In addition to the above, several methods are being tried with the use of industrial
waster by products in road building. The following are some of the important materials which
have proved good.
•
Fly Ash for the construction of the embankments and stabilization of sub-base and
base-courses.
•
Steel and copper slags for the construction of sub-base and base-courses.
•
Marble dust in sub-grade and sub bas

In INDIA what ever you set guide lines specifications,methods,technology,for FREINDLY ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS The root cause for failure to meet the standerds is CURRUPTION from bottom to top. Once we eradicate this menace probably we can meet common mans dreams ie INDIA'S Dreams.

One thing I would like to emphesize & add, that our beloved ancesters built better roads with common ordinary soil they took heavy loads on that,built world famous monuments,dams,gardens,& so on... without help of any extraordinary mechanisms. All this is for their DEDICATIONS COMMITMENTS for the cause of SOCIETY.

We should build roads of international standards in our country also.

To start with, ask some private party to put their money in construction and take responsibility of maintenance. Now for that party to complete the job in time and with good quality, heavy mechanisation of construction work will become a must...and it is. But for usage of heavy machines 3 types of manpower is required:

1. The one who operates the machine

2. The one who maintains the machine

3. The one who understands the interface between mechanical and civil engineering aspects of the machine.

For optimum utilisation of machines the trained manpower is a must. I have seen contractors whose operations team is not aware of the full potential of their plants, sometimes even don't know the correct method of calibration of plant.

If these things happen along with the right support from government in land acquisition and law and order, there is no doubt that 20 km/day will not remain a 'demanding' target.

i feel that given the importance of roads as brought out, we need to look at the issue holistically. i guess we need to increase the scope from building better roads to looking at better integrated transportation management systems - "intelligent transport management systems" with tracking and monitoring capabilities thrown in (and surely safe construction activities too). besides the inherent advantages of good roads, there are a host of other additional benefits to be derived . warmest to all.