The Hindu Business Line : `Concrete roads better than bitumen track'

CONCRETE roads, on techno-economic considerations, have turned out to be far superior to bitumen roads, and will prove to be sustainable in the future road construction programmes.

Mr C. C. Bhattacharya, former DG, (Road Development) and Additional Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said that besides creating road infrastructure with enormous investments, the sustainability of roads would have to be ensured for meeting users' expectations and for national interest.

Mr Bhattacharya was delivering the keynote address at a national workshop on `Sustainability of road infrastructure - Scope of concrete roads,' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Eastern region, jointly with the Indian Concrete Institute (ICI) and Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) here.

According to him, when one looked for durable national assets with an assured long-term service, concrete roads would have to be given serious consideration, particularly for the arteries of the national road network, which carry a very high volume of traffic with the increase in heavy axle loads.

More road networks have been built with inadequately thick flexible pavements topped with a thin bituminous course, and such construction demanded recurring maintenance and rehabilitation, which was uneconomical , he pointed out.

He said that the areas most attractive for concrete roads (considering their superiority and life-cycle costs) included expressways, 4/6 lane projects, bypasses and arterial urban roads.

Roads in coastal areas having a high rainfall, bus depots, truck terminals, toll plazas road intersections and rural roads are also suitable.

Earlier, inaugurating the workshop, Mr Amar Chaudhuri, State Minister for PWD & PWRD, said road infrastructure was being accorded high priority by the State Government, as West Bengal is now viewed as a desirable investment destination.

"We are now developing a comprehensive road infrastructure strategy and finalising a master plan for which a high-level road advisory panel has already been set up," he pointed out.

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