Government of Nepal

Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration

Department of Local Infrastructure (DoLI)
Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP)

Training for Engineers (Province 1/ Madhesh province)

(Province 1 and Madehsh Province)

Effective maintenance of different types of

pavement

Dr. Padma Bahadur Shahi, PEng

(Email: pb_shahi@yahoo.com)
Tel: 9851091057
 Training Content
• Effective maintenance method of different
types of pavements

• Dos and Don’ts for maintenance of pavement,

shoulders and drainage
•Road maintenance : only
the way towards the
Prosperity
 Why road maintenance?
• long lasting of road of usage and reduce the environmental impact on
the surface.
• Maintain the serviceability of road: smooth traffic operation
• Reduce vehicle operating cost and travel time
• Reduction in accident number
• Reduce the more costly repair works (rehabilitation etc.)
• Ensure the long service life of road and preserve the road asset.
• Minimize the environmental damage
• To attain the economic and social benefit
 working quantities from the year of surfacing
6

5 5
% of surface area for filling potholes

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Year from Surfacing
 Economics of Maintenance!!!

• There nothing for free!!!

• We need to invest (in the form of money, time

and energy) to get return

• Maintenance !! is must for reliability of

machine or facilities
 Qualitative impacts of road maintenance:-

• Economy

• Environment

• Safety

• Accessibility

• Integration
 Road project Cycle
• Planning
• Road design principles
• Construction methods
• Operations
• Maintenance
• Rehabilitation
• Planning
 What are the factors deterioration?

• Traffic

• Water

• Environment
 What are the causes of defects in the
pavement?
• Defects in the quality of materials used

• Defects in construction method & quality control

• Inadequate surface or subsurface drainage

• Increase in magnitude of wheel loads due to increase in traffic

volume

• Settlement of foundation of embankment itself.

• Environmental factors: heavy rainfall, soil erosion, snow fall, frost

action
Road deterioration model
Corrective & Preventive Maintenance
 Pavement distress: Bituminous pavement
1. Fatigue cracking.
2. Block cracking.
3. Edge cracking.
4. Longitudinal cracking.
• Wheel path longitudinal cracking.

• Non-wheel path longitudinal cracking.

5. Reflection cracking at joints.

6. Transverse cracking.
Low-moderate-high severity fatigue cracking
Block cracking
Edge cracking
Longitudinal cracking
Reflection cracking
Transverse cracking
 Distress types

7. Patch/ deterioration
8. Potholes
9. Rutting
10. Shoving
11. Bleeding
12. Polished aggregates
12. Raveling
Shoulder drop-off
15. Water bleeding and pumping
 Defects in Cement Concrete Pavements

• Corner break

• D-Cracking

• Longitudinal cracking

• Transverse cracking
Corner Cracking
D-Cracking
Longitudinal cracking
Transverse Cracking
 Joint seal damage

• Transverse and Longitudinal Joints

Spalling of longitudinal joints
Spalling of transverse joints
Scaling
Polished aggregates
Blowups
Mud-pumping
 Maintenance types

• Routine maintenance

• Recurrent maintenance

• Specific maintenance

• Periodic maintenance

• Emergency maintenance
Routine maintenance
 Routine Maintenance activities
• For paved and unpaved roads:
• Clearing
• Small Landslides & other materials from carriageway

• Side drains

• Culverts

• Under Bridges

• Vegetation

• Weep holes of the retaining walls

• Maintenance of bio-engineering elements

 Routine Maintenance….

• For bridge and causeways

• Clearing the surface of causeways

• Clearing bridge deck and railing (including the footpaths)

• Removal of vegetation from all parts of the bridges and

causeways

• clearing spouts and weep holes in bridge

• Clearing bearings and expansion joints of bridges

Routine maintenance
Reactive/Recurrent manitenance
Routine maintenance
 Recurrent maintenance activities

• Gravel/earthen roads
• Repairing of gullies in the road surface

• Repairing of ruts in the road surface

• Repairing of potholes in the surface

• Repairing of the corrugation in the road surface

• Repairing of backfill over culverts

• Creating the diagonal water bars on the road surface

 Recurrent /reactive …

• The maintenance required as per road condition, when

condition reaches a critical threshold (intervention level).
Required activities are identified as a result of field
inspection. Mostly patch repair, crack sealing and drain/
parapet repair works are carried out after the appearance of
damage.
 Recurrent maintenance …..

• Activities in the paved roads:

• Repair of potholes

• Repair of edge break in the pavement

• repairing of cracks in the pavement

• Sealing of cracks in the pavement

 Recurrent maintenance …..
• Paved and unpaved roads:-

• Repair of cuts/ruts in the shoulder

• Repair of potholes in the shoulder

• Repair of erosion on the drains

• Repair of the minor damage in the retaining walls,

• Repair of minor damage on the structure

• Repair of erosion damage around the bridge

• Repair and painting of road sign and on the road furniture

 Recurrent maintenance….
• Activities in bridges:-
• Painting and repair of bridge railing and safety barriers
• Lubrication of bearings,
• Repair of expansion joints
• Sealing and pavement repair in approach road
• Minor protection works to avoid damage to crossing
structures
 Periodic/cyclic maintenance
Maintenance is required only at an interval of several years. This type of
maintenance is “cyclic”, and is required normally at intervals of 5 to 8 years.
Activities are fog seal, slurry seal, surface dressing, thin overlay, renew road
marking etc. Maintenance activities are listed as;

• Asphalt concrete overlay

• Surface dressing (SBST/ DBST)

 Responsive maintenance
• The maintenance is required as per direct response to the present level of
pavement deterioration. It includes improvement of the road surface as well as
other defect corrections to provide a reasonable level of service. The “cycle”
may be shorter if justified economically to intervene earlier than anticipated
(high traffic volume road and condition of the road). Activities are fog seal,
slurry seal, surface dressing, thin overlay, renew road marking etc. Maintenance
activities are listed as;
 Specific maintenance

• For unpaved roads:

• Dry stone pitching (limited qty.)

• Gravelling of short section

• For paved roads

• Patch works of potholes short sectio
 Specific maintenance…
• For both paved and unpaved roads:
• Crating and repairing of dry stone/gabion retaining walls

• Slope stabilization and bioengineering

• Removal of banks from the shoulders

• Shoulder improvement

• Create earthen side drains

• Shoulder improvement

• repair existing drainage system

• Creation of stone patched drift

• Removal of hanging cliff

• Maintaining side slopes,

• Side slopes and signage and road furnitures

Gravel Road Pavement
Understanding the cross-section
Gravel road: Intersections
 Road shoulder

• Road shoulder for:

• Supporting the edge of the carriageway part of the roadway,

• Providing safety area for drivers to regain control of vehicles,

• Carrying surface water further away from the pavement

surface towards the fore-slope and into the ditch.
 Road shoulder…

• Shape is important
• First, the shoulder should meet the edge of the roadway at the same
elevation (shoulder should begin at the same lebvel of the
carriageway edge)

• What will happen if: shoulder level differs from the carriageway
levels?
 Dos and Don’ts for maintenance of pavement

• Carriageway!!!
• Traffic control:
• Axle load

• Speed

• Level (Crown to edge)

• Crown

• Camber

• Superelevation

• Do not allow the rain/water ponding

Dos and Don’ts for maintenance of pavement….

• Shoulder
• Level with respect to carriageway

• Cross-Slope

• Protection of carriageway edge

• Embankment surface and slope

• Do not allow ponding on the shoulder

 Drainage

• Observe the overall drainage/flow of water

 Surface drainage

• Cross-slope

• Side drains

• Cross drains
• Causeway
 A smooth way to prosperity:
properly maintained pavement