R.N.I. Registrations No.

17549/57 ISSN: 0258-0500

Volume 79 - 1 Total Pages 68 January - March 2018

CONTENTS
Paper No. 672
 Temporary Support and Freezing of Bridge Bearings During Balance
Cantilever Construction for New Brahmaputra Bridge at Guwahati 1-14
by Rakesh K. Mehta, Sudeep Kulkarni, V. N. Heggade

Paper No. 673

 Repair for Major Cracks in Central 2 Spans of the 4 Span Continuous 15-28
Module of Varsova Bridge Across Vasai Creek on NH-48
Near Mumbai, India
by M L Gupta, Dhananjay A Bhide

Paper No. 674

Journal of the
 Application of Intelligent Transport System towards Making Smart City
through the Preparation of CMP for Gandhinagar, Gujarat
29-38
Indian Roads Congress
by Prof. P.K. Sarkar, Ms. Naina Gupta

Information Section
 Significance of Risk Management in Highway Projects 39-52
by Dr. Indrasen Singh

 Discussion on Papers Published in Volume 78 Parts 1 & 2 53-66

https://www.irc.nic.in
 Journal of the
Indian Roads Congress

Volume : 79 - 1 ● January - March, 2018 ● ISSN 0258 - 0500

Indian Roads Congress

Founded : On 10th December, 1934

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 Paper No. 672

TEMPORARY SUPPORT AND FREEZING OF BRIDGE BEARINGS

DURING BALANCE CANTILEVER CONSTRUCTION FOR NEW
BRAHMAPUTRA BRIDGE AT GUWAHATI

Rakesh K. Mehta1 Sudeep Kulkarni2 V. N. Heggade3

ABSTRACT
In earlier days, the majority of superstructure of cantilever bridges used to be designed by
considering fixity at support achieved through monolithic construction of pier and deck and by
providing central hinge or suspended span at the tip of cantilever arms to make the structure
determinate. However, due to distress of central hinge bearings over a period of time and excessive
deflection due to creep at the cantilever tips observed in almost all bridges built on the then state
of the art design philosophy, now-a-days most cantilever bridges are designed as continuous over
supports by providing central bearings below the deck at pier location to make the structure
determinate. This eliminates the problem of excessive deflection at cantilever tip and at the same
time increases the service life of bridge. For the construction of such cantilever superstructure,
precise design of construction systems is of utmost importance. In this context, the paper discusses
the details of two such important construction systems i.e. temporary support for cantilever deck
and temporary freezing arrangement for free bearing adopted during the construction of New
Brahmaputra Bridge at Guwahati, Assam.
The advancements in the field of bridge engineering have led to increase in the span length of
cantilever arms. Due to increase in the span of cantilever arms, the dead load of the superstructure
also increases for which high capacity temporary support and freezing arrangements need to be
provided in comparison to the conventional system for smaller span cantilever arms. This paper
also presents the progressive advancements on the development of construction systems to cater to
the challenges thrown by construction of longer cantilever arms.

1. INTRODUCTION In this package, NHAI also proposed the Three

The National Highway Authority of India
(NHAI) has undertaken the construction of
Rs 4765 Crore Four-Lane East-West corridor
from Silchar to Srirampur in the state of Assam.
Part of this corridor i.e up gradation of NH-31
was awarded to Gammon India Ltd. between
Ch 1121+241 to 1125+320 (Package-AS-28).
Lane Bridge across the Brahmaputra River to
connect Guwahati city with North Guwahati
to reduce the traffic congestion over the
existing Saraighat Bridge and enable faster and
smoother traveling across Brahmaputra. This
new Brahmaputra Bridge is parallel to the first
Rail-cum road Saraighat Bridge Fig. 1. This

General Manager (Technical), E-mail: rakesh.mehta@gammonengineers.com

}
1
Gammon Engineers &
2
Deputy Manager (Technical) Contractors (P) Ltd,
3
President (Engineering) Mumbai

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 1

 Paper No. 672

Bridge will provide succor to people for North
Guwahati and connect north east India with
the rest of the country. The new Brahmaputra
Bridge is 1493.58 meters long and has 3.5 km
of approach road.
Fig.1 Site Layout
Brief Description of Project
The total length of the new Brahmaputra bridge
is 1493.584 m, consisting of 2 spans of 105 m, 2
spans of 150 m and 8 spans of 122.6948 m. The
foundation for bridge is of well foundation type
having double D shape of size 16 m X 10 m.
Deck of the proposed bridge consists of single
cell PSC box girder of varying depth and deck
is cast by segmental cantilever construction
method. Top width of deck is 13.875 m and
bottom width is 8.075 m. The piers are of tapered
RCC wall with semi-circular end of size 14 m X
7.0 m at well cap level and size 12 m X 5 m at
bottom of pier cap.
Total length of Viaduct portion at Amingaon
side is 144 m and at Guwahati side is 108 m,
consisting of 6 spans of 24 m (3 span continuous)
at Amingaon side and 4 spans of 27 m (4 spans
continuous) at Guwahati side. The general
arrangement of bridge is given in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 General Arrangement of Bridge

Foundation of viaduct portion is pile foundation counterfort Retaining wall on 1.20 m/0.75 m dia.
of 1.2 m dia. pile. Superstructure of viaduct pile foundation. The design data for the bridge is
portion is cast-in-situ PSC T beam. Approach given in Table-1.
embankment protection is to be done by
2. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE BRIDGE
i) Total Length of Bridge : 1493.584 m + 144 m + 108 m = 1745.584 m
ii) Total no. of Span : 2 Span of 105 m + 2 Span of 150 m + 8 Span of 122.948 m
6 Spans of 24 m (Amingaon Side- 2 x3 Span Continuous)
4 Spans of 27 m (Guwahati Side- 4 Span Continuous)
iii) Type of Foundation : Main Bridge - 12 Nos. Well Foundation (Double D – 16 x 10 m)
Viaduct to Main Bridge – 11 Nos. Pile Foundation
iv) Piers & Abutment : Main Bridge -12 Nos., Viaduct – 11 Nos.

2 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672

v) Type of Superstructure : Main Bridge Cast-in –situ segmental continuous Pre-stressed box girder
Constructed by Balanced cantilever method (Length = 1433.584 m) and
cast-in-situ pre-stressed box girder constructed by supporting arrangement
(Length = 60 m)
Viaduct Portion : Cast-in-situ Pre-stressed T- Girder (Length = 252 m)
vi) Bearing : Pot/PTFE Free bearing at P6 to P11 & P13 to P18, Pot/PTFE Fixed bearing at P12
vii) Seismic Transmission : 3 Nos. of 4 MN Capacity at each Pier Location except Fixed Pier P12
Unit (STU)
Expansion Joint : Modular strip seal type for movement of 800 mm at P6 & P18
Table 1. Design Data

Max. Discharge of River = 72400 Cum/sec

Max. Velocity of flow = 5 m/sec
Formation Level = 69.072 m
High Flood Level = 49.881 m
Low Water Level = 40.2 m
Max. Design Scour Level = 7.684 m
Founding Level = -11.402 m
Live Load = 3 Lane of class A or 1 Lane of Class 70 R as per IRC:6:2000
Seismic Forces = Zone V with I.F = 1.5 as per IRC:6:2000
Grade of Concrete = M35 for Foundation, Substructure and
M60 for Superstructure
Grade of Steel = Fe 415 for Foundation, Substructure and
Fe 500 for Superstructure confirming to IS:1786
Pre stressing = 19T15 (19 nos. of 15.2 mm HT strands class-2 low relaxation as per
IS-14268)
Pre stressed Box Girder = Depth – Varies 8 m to 4.25 m
Bottom width – 8.075 m
Top width – 13.875 m
3. CANTILEVER CONSTRUCTION The Cast-in-situ segmental pre-stressed box
APPROACH girder is constructed by Balance cantilever
segment construction method by means of
a cantilever construction gantry or form
traveler. An expansion joint of 800 mm
modular strip type is provided over end
support/abutment P18 and P6 location.
The entire bridge span between P6-P18 i.e.
length of 1493.584 m is continuous and free
bearings are provided at each pier location
except over pier P12 (i.e. Center of bridge
length), where bearing is fixed and entire
permanent horizontal forces are taken by
the fixed bearings. The maximum weight of
segment to be cast by the gantry is 165 ton.
A typical cross section of the box segment is
Fig. 3 Typical Cross Section of Box Arrangement Summary shown in Fig. 3.

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 3

 Paper No. 672

Numbers of in-situ segments and length in construction of unbalanced cantilever arms of

Cantilever Span over P10 to P14 is shown in spans 61.474 and 47.948 m on either sides of the
Fig. 4 and over P-7, P-8, P-16 & P-17 is shown piers P9 and P15. The detail for segments over
in Fig. 5. A unique feature of the bridge is the P9 and P15 is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 4 Segments Arrangement over Pier P10 to P14

Fig. 5 Segments Arrangement over Pier P7,P8 and P16, P17

Fig. 6 Segments Arrangement over Pier P9 and P15

The length of segment is of two types: 2.915 m Adopted Procedure for Casting of in-Situ
and 3.75 m. The summary of Cantilever span Segments for cantilever arm is as follows:-
arrangement for the main bridge is given in i) After the casting of pier cap, bearings and
Table 2. sand jacks (temporary supports) are placed
Table 2. Span Arrangement Summary over pier cap. The bearings are provided
with conventional freezing arrangement
Sr. Cantilever No. of No. of Remarks
and are locked in position Fig. 7a.
No. arm (m) segments on T-arms
each side ii) The pier head i.e. units 1a and 1b of total
9 m length are cast by providing brackets
1 75 22 4
from pier cap. After the pier head achieves
2 61.474 16 5 sufficient strength, the corresponding
3 61.474- 16-14 2 Unbalanced cables are stressed. Temporary supports in
47.948 cantilever the form of cables are provided in the pier

4 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672
head and pier cap which act as anchorage
Fig. 7a
Fig. 7a and 7b Casting of Pier Head and First Segment for Cantilever Arms
iii) The advanced freezing arrangement is now
provided and the conventional freezing
arrangement is released.
iv) The next units 2a and 2b are also cast on the
same bracket arrangement from pier cap
and the corresponding cables are stressed.
v) The Cantilever construction gantries (CLC
gantry) are erected on segment nos. 2a and
2b on either side of the pier.
vi) Using the CLC gantry, segments 3a and
3b are cast. After the concrete achieves
sufficient strength, the corresponding
cables are stressed.
vii) In this manner the entire cantilever span
is completed on either side of the pier
Photo-1.
Photo 1 Balanced Cantilever Construction
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 5
during casting of cantilever units Fig. 7b.
Fig. 7b
viii) After the casting of fifth segments, the
Shock Transmission Unit (STU) is placed
in position.
ix) On completion of casting of all segments,
the CLC gantries are brought symmetrically
towards the Center of pier and dismantled
before casting of continuity unit.
x) After casting of adjacent T-arms, the continuity
unit is cast by providing a suspended platform
from the tip of the cantilever.
xi) The advanced freezing arrangement is
released, the temporary support 19K15 strands
are cut and the continuity cables are stressed.
xii) General and finishing items are completed.
4. REQUIREMENT OF ENABLING
WORKS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF
CANTILEVER SPAN
For the New Brahmaputra Bridge, numerous
enabling systems were required, right from caissons
for substructure to form traveler for superstructure.
However, two of the most important construction
systems were the temporary support during
cantilever construction and freezing arrangement for
bearing. The temporary support is required to make
the structure stable or determinate during cantilever
construction and the freezing of bearing is required
to restrict the longitudinal and transverse movement
of free bearings i.e. to restrict all horizontal forces
developed either due to wind or seismic loads, or
due to stressing of the longitudinal cable during
cantilever construction.
 Paper No. 672

Suitable development and precise design of these on temporary support in active direction was 250
construction systems is as important if not more ton as per the proposed construction sequence.
than permanent design of any cantilever bridge, For Jaigarh bridge 125 ton capacity sand jack was
large or small span. If any of the above two systems provided on each temporary support just below the
fail or do not work properly during construction, it web of box units. Temporary supports are square
is more disastrous than the failure of bridge due to RCC column of size 900 x 900 mm and it rests on
wrong design. projected part of well cap photo 2.
4.1. Temporary Support For Superstructure
Generally, now-a-days for continuous cantilever
bridges, bearings either fixed or free are provided
at center of piers and this is the main support which
transfers all the vertical or horizontal forces to
substructure/foundation from superstructure. But
during construction, the bearing support acts as a
single support till the stich segments of individual
spans are cast. So, temporary supports on either side
of the bearings are required which provide stability
to the cantilever span during construction.
The temporary supports are in the form of either
sand jacks or stability cables, depending upon Photo 2 Temporary Support For Jaigarh Creek Bridge
instability reaction developed based on total self-
weight of cantilever arms and their construction
methodology/sequence of casting of segments
Fig. 8.
The sand jacks of required capacity are provided
either directly on pier cap (if sufficient space is
available) or above RCC/steel column which
is resting over well cap/pile cap or temporary
foundation.

Photo 3 Temporary Support For Balason Bridge

Fig. 8 Arrangement of Temporary Supports During CLC
Such supports were provided in some of our
previous similar projects such as Vijaydurgh and
Jaigarh bridges in Maharashtra and Balason Bridge
in West Bengal. In Vijaydurgh and Jaigarh creek
bridges, distance between temporary support on
either side of bearing was 9.0 m / 7.2 m and reaction
In Balason bridge, distance between temporary
support on either side of bearing was 7.0 m and
reaction coming on temporary support in active
direction was 600 ton as per the construction
sequence proposed. For Balason bridge 325 ton
capacity sand jack was provided on each temporary
support just below the web of box units. Temporary
supports are steel built-up column size of 1000x1000
mm and it rests directly on well cap Photo 3. Here
steel column was proposed in place of conventional
RCC temporary column for ease of erection and
dismantling of temporary support, however cost of
steel temporary support is more in comparison to
RCC column.

6 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672

In Brahmaputra Bridge, initial distance between that reaction on temporary support reduces. After
temporary supports on either side of bearing was increasing the pier cap width, it was possible to
proposed as 4.46 m considering maximum space provide the temporary supports above pier cap and
availability on pier cap. For that proposed 4.46 the distance between them increased from 4.46 m to
m distance between temporary support, reaction 7.310 m. The vertical forces in temporary support
coming on each side of temporary support was 6200 were recalculated in lieu of increased distance
ton considering all in-situ segment cast in single between supports and found out that load on each
pour, however this reaction further reduced to side support was 4250 ton considering in-situ box
4100 ton by considering segments cast in 3 stages. segment cast in single pour and 2600 ton considering
Such high reactions were coming as each segment segments to be cast in 3 stages. Typical casting
weight varies from 160 ton to 140 ton and form sequence for box segments is shown in Fig. 10.
traveler self-weight is 90 ton. Total self-weight of
one pair of cantilever arm is 7000 ton. To reduce
the vertical reaction in temporary support, it was
required to increase the distance between temporary
supports or construct another temporary support
in between cantilever arms. The construction of
another temporary support in between the cantilever
arms was ruled out as construction of any extra
foundation in Brahmaputra River for temporary
support is not cost effective as well as it increases
the construction period. Therefore only option was
to increase the center to center distance between
temporary support and these temporary supports Fig. 9 Change in Pier Cap Width
would be constructed either from well cap or outside
the well cap on temporary foundation as designed
pier cap width was only 6.2 m. Support from well
cap or outside well cap was not advisable as the
site was frequented every year by flash floods with
very high current velocity and with lots of floating
debris. The current velocity during floods is more
than 5 m/sec. So with debris coming along with
high water current velocity, there is always a chance
to hit or damage the temporary support. Also if we
were going for temporary foundation for temporary
support from outside the well cap then construction Fig. 10 Segments Casting Sequence
of temporary foundation for vertical load of around
2000 ton in each support location required number The entire construction sequence is planned such
of piles and very large dia. pile either RCC/steel due that there is sufficient factor of safety for restoring
to very high water current velocity and scouring moment over the overturning moment. The
nature of bed. It was found that construction of following loads were considered in the calculation
temporary foundation from outside of well cap was of the forces on the temporary support:-
not viable due to time and cost consideration and i. Self-weight of the box girder (2.5% extra
at the same time dismantling those foundations was for dimensional imbalance for shore side
not possible. segments)
To overcome these problems, it was necessary to ii. Self-weight of the cantilever construction
increase the Center to Center distance between gantry = 90 ton.
temporary supports and so it was decided to increase iii. Wind load acting upwards on one cantilever
the pier cap width from 6.2 m to 8.55 m Fig. 9, so arm

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 7

 Paper No. 672

iv. Downward random loading of 0.05 ton/m2

v. Conc. Load of 50 ton acting at the tip of
cantilever
Designing the Sand jack as a temporary support
above pier cap for 1300 ton capacity in each
location (i.e. 2600 / 2 = 1300 ton) was not possible
as required size of sand jack was proving to be very
large. Also a large diameter of pot was required
in which dry sand is placed for exerting pressure
in sand. Functionality of the dry sand taking such
large vertical load by dispersing over large dia.
of sand pot was questionable. So the proposal for
providing the sand jack as a temporary support was
ruled out and instead the 14 nos. of 19K15 strands
as temporary supports for taking the vertical uplift
forces of 2600 ton was adopted. These strands were
anchored between the pier cap and pier head units of
cantilever arms. Proposing 14 nos. of 19K15 strands
was on the basis that UTS of each strand shall not
exceed 0.5 times of UTS i.e. capacity of one 19K15
strand shall be restricted to 0.5 x 506 t = 253 ton.
So total capacity of 14 nos. of 19K15 is 3542 ton
in comparison to total reaction or tension required
of 2600 ton. The purpose for restriction of capacity
of one strand to only 0.5 times of UTS is because
the strands are repetitively subjected to tension and
compression (relaxation) as the segments are cast
stage by stage Fig. 11.
Fixed anchorage cone was provided in pier cap
and initial pre-stressing force of 5 ton was given
Table 3 Summary of Reaction on Temporary Support Arrangement Summary
Fig. 11 Strands Anchoring Arrangement as a
Temporary support between Pier Head and Pier-Cap
from Pier head side to remove the initial slag
in strands. Provision of strands as a temporary
support, that take the unbalanced tension
force during casting of cantilever arms as per
construction sequence is a yielding support
in comparison to the sand jacks which is a
non-yielding support. Yielding of support i.e.
extension of strands gives additional deflection
in cantilever arms during construction. To control
this deflection and as it was not possible to adjust
the deflection in pre-camber during construction,
it was proposed that the strands be grouted in
length provided in pier cap and pier head units of
cantilever arm. So these strands were not reusable
and are later cut in between pier cap and bottom
of pier head unit after stich segment of individual
cantilever arms were cast. A comparison of type
of temporary support and quantities for various
bridges are given in Table 3.

Project Name Total Length Total Self C/C Reaction Temporary Support Details
of Cantilever Weight of Box distance on One
Arm Units for One between Temp. Type Dimension Total
Cantilever Temp. Support Quantities
Arm support (R1/R2)
Jaigarh Creek 64 m 1250 ton 9.0 m 250 ton RCC with 900 x 900 Concrete
Bridge (1-Stage 125 ton mm - 45 cum
Casting) Capacity HYSD Steel
Sand Jack – 4 ton
Balason Bridge 128 m 2800 ton 7m 600 ton Steel With Built- Structural
(2-Stage 325 ton up-1000 x Steel
Casting) Capacity 1000 mm – 42 ton
Sand Jack
Brahmaputra 148.5 m 7000 ton 7.31 m 2600 ton HT Strand 14 nos x 19 HT-Strands
Bridge (3- Stage K15 – 4.6 ton
Casting)

8 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672

4.2 Bearing Freezing Arrangement
The next important construction system for cantilever
construction of bridges is the freezing of bearings.
This freezing arrangement restricts the longitudinal
and transverse movement of free bearings during
cantilever construction. POT/PTFE free bearings are
provided at Piers P6 to P11 and P13 to P18 location
for the continuous cantilever span, which is free to
move in longitudinal direction only and POT/PTFE
fixed bearings are provided at Pier P12 location, to
restrict the movement in both direction Figs. 12 and
13 and Photo 4. The 2 nos. fixed bearings provided
at P12 location are for 3560 ton vertical load and 630
ton horizontal load in longitudinal direction as well as
transverse direction, whereas at other pier locations,
2 nos. free bearings are provided for varying vertical
loads and 630 ton horizontal load in transverse
direction. Bearing load details at each pier location for
bridge are given in Table 4 and the layout is given in
Fig. 14.

Fig. 12 Free Guided Bearing (2089 x 2412 mm) Fig. 13 Fixed Bearing (1858 x 1454 mm)
Table 4 Bearing Loads and Movements

Fig. 14 Bearing Layout Diagram

Photo 4 Fixed/Free Bearing Photo 5 STU Arrangement

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 9

 Paper No. 672

To avoid occurrence of a large amount of horizontal
force in seismic condition at the only fixed bearing
i.e. P12 location for 1.493 km long continuous span,
Shock Transmission units (STU) are provided at all
free bearing pier locations. These STU’s are designed
to distribute the sudden loads due to seismic and
braking etc. uniformly on all piers at the same time
allowing the movement for slowly induced loads
due to temperature, creep and shrinkage.
At every free pier location (i.e. At Piers P7 to P11 &
P13 to P17-10 locations), three numbers of STU’s
are provided having maximum capacity of 400 ton.
The approx. weight of STU is approx. 3 ton and it is
connected to the pier cap with 10 nos. 39.5 dia. high
strength bolts and connected to the soffit of bridge
deck with 12 nos. 36 dia. high strength bolts
The general arrangement of STU is shown in Photo
5 and Fig. 15 while the details of connection of STU
units between pier cap and segments of cantilever
arm is shown in Photo 6 and Fig. 16.

Photo 6 STU Connection Fig. 15 Typical Detail of STU

Fig. 16 STU Connection

The conventional system used in most cantilever around the bearing and locked together by tie
bridges for freezing the bearing is by arresting bolts or any type of tension rod. The general
the bearing at the bearing location itself. The arrangement has been shown in Figs. 17, 18 and
arrangement consists of two steel beams provided Photo 7.

10 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672

Table 5 Load Calculation for Freezing Arrangement

Description Load in ton

For Conventional Bearing Freezing Arrangement
Dead load – Pier head segments (Segment 1 on each side) 1120
Reaction on one bearing 693
Horizontal load to be consider (0.23 x Reaction on Bearing). 158
Design Capacity for system 160
For Longitudinal Restrainer
Dead load- Segments 1 to 5 on each side 2400
Reaction on one bearing 1200
Horizontal load to be consider (0.23 x Reaction on Bearing). 276
Design Capacity for system 300

Fig. 17 Sectional Elevation – Detail of Freezing Around Bearing

Fig. 18 Plan – GA of Freezing Around Bearing Photo 7 Freezing Around Bearing

The conventional freezing arrangement comprises
of the followings-
i. Steel built up beams (2 nos.) designed for the
horizontal force.
ii. Packing either by wooden or steel.
iii. High tension bolts connecting the two steel
built up beams.
When the bearing tries to slide, it is arrested by
the built up beam which takes reaction from the
pedestal of the bearing through the packing. The
entire system is held in position by the tie/tension
bolts.
In case of New Brahmaputra bridge, the arrangement
had to resist the total desired horizontal force of
300 ton Table 5 before STU is activated. As the
force was quite large, the conventional freezing
arrangement as described above could not be
designed and therefore, alternate arrangement had to
be thought of to freeze the free bearing till the STU
becomes active. So the conventional arrangement
was provided only to lock the bearing till the time
the main advanced freezing arrangement was to
be provided. The design horizontal force for the
conventional freezing arrangement was 160 ton
Table 5.

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 11

 Paper No. 672

A special type of longitudinal restrainer was pier cap to allow rotation within the permissible
developed for P7 and P17 based on High friction limits of the bearing.
grip bolt mechanism. This longitudinal restrainer
was designed to resist the 300 ton horizontal forces
as mentioned in Table 5. The freezing arrangement
comprised of steel built up beam connected to the
soffit of the box girder near the face of the pier cap.
The built up beam was fixed to the soffit of box
girder by high friction grip bolts (Macalloy bar). An
elastomeric pad was provided to the flange of the
built up beam that would hit the face of the pier cap
thus transferring the horizontal force to the pier cap.
The arrangement was provided on both sides of the
pier cap Photo 8.

Fig. 19 Side elevation–Longitudinal Restrainer

Photo 8 Longitudinal Restrainer

This Longitudinal restrainer arrangement is
comprised of the followings:-
i. Two nos. of corbels – 0.718 m x 1.29 m x 2.4
m to the soffit of the box girder
ii. Steel built up beam attached to the corbel by
means of Macalloy post tensioning system.
The diaphragm of the pier head unit had to be
extended to the second unit for the provision of
corbels. The general arrangement is given in Figs. 19
and 20. The corbel and the steel built up beam were
designed for the horizontal forces of 300 ton. A gap
was maintained between the elastomeric pad and
Fig. 20 Cross-Section –Longitudinal Restrainer
The built up beam Fig. 21 was to be later removed
after deactivation of freezing arrangement and
casting of continuity unit.
The position of the corbel was such that it lay partly
in first Pier head unit i.e. 1a/1b and partly in second
unit i.e. 2a/2b. Therefore, the design of pier head
unit for superstructure had to be modified such that
the entire portion of this arrangement (i.e. corbel)
could be cast along with Pier head unit.

Fig. 21 Details of Built up Beam

12 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 672
Since Pier head unit and pier cap for pier P7
and P17 were first ready as such this type of
longitudinal restrainer was provided firstly
for Piers P7 and P17. However, the formwork
arrangement became difficult for the revised
shape of pier head and hence took more time.
Similarly, during installation of freezing units,
stressing of 48 Nos. of 4.2 m length Macalloy
tension bars at each pier location also increased
the time cycle. At the same time the cost increased
due to the cost of 48 nos of Macalloy bars of 4.2
m length i.e. 42 ton considering all pier locations.
So, overall the entire process led to increased
time cycle and increased costs as compared to
time cycle and costs considered in construction
schedule.
So, it was necessary to modify the proposed
longitudinal system provided at Piers P7 and P17 to
a seismic longitudinal restrainer type system at other
pier locations to save extra time and cost. This was
done by providing the restrainer type corbel over
pier cap and another corbel from outside of web of
pier head unit. In this bridge, permanent longitudinal
Fig. 22 Elevation View–Longitudinal Restrainer
Photo 9 Details of New Proposed Longitudinal
Restrainer
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 13
seismic restrainers had not been proposed due to
provision of STU. A gap of 1000 mm between the
two corbels was kept and this gap was packed with
a steel built-up girder. The Gap of 1000 mm was
provided as the maximum longitudinal movement of
span is 800 mm so that after completion of the entire
bridge the corbels should not restrict the longitudinal
movement of expansion joint. A 50 mm elastomeric
pad was provided on the front face of built-up steel
girder to take care of the impact of longitudinal
horizontal force during construction. A 10 mm gap
was also maintained between the elastomeric pad
and corbel to allow rotation within the permissible
limits of the bearing. The elevation and plan view of
longitudinal restrainer is shown in Figs. 22 and 23.
The construction of this longitudinal restrainer did
not incur any significant additional costs or delayed
the time cycle as compared to the earlier proposed
longitudinal restrainer. The corbel of longitudinal
restrainer is cast along with pier cap and pier head
units at all pier locations except fixed pier P12. The
details of revised longitudinal restrainer are given
in Photo-9.
Fig. 23 Plan View–Longitudinal Restrainer
After activating the longitudinal restrainer,
conventional freezing arrangement of
bearing was removed. As per construction
methodology, this longitudinal restrainer had to
be deactivated after installation of STU units,
but the deactivation of the restrainer was done
only after casting of continuity units as an
additional safety precaution. Also longitudinal
restrainer was designed for 40 % more load
as required Table 5 for safety precaution only.
For deactivation of longitudinal restrainer, only
built-up steel girder along with elastomeric
 Paper No. 672
pad was removed. Total quantities required in
earlier proposed longitudinal restrainer and
Table 6 Details of Quantities for Longitudinal Restrainer for One Pier Location
Concrete
(m3)
First proposal- Longitudinal Restrainer 40.5
New Proposal-Longitudinal Restrainer 14
For the new proposal, high quantity of reinforcement
was required in comparison to concrete because
almost 45 % of the reinforcement quantity was for
the purpose of anchorage provided in the existing
pier cap and pier head diaphragm as both the
restrainers were corbel structures.
5. CONCLUSION
Progressive developments in the design of bridges
will have to be supported by equal advancements
in the construction systems for the successful
completion of the project. The temporary support
Photo 10 Completed Aerial View of the Bridge
The New Brahmaputra Bridge at Guwahati was
opened to public on 29.01.2017. The new bridge
has decreased congestion on the existing Straight
Bridge and has improved connectivity across the
Brahmaputra. With the completion of the Jalukbari
flyover, the entire area has got a beautiful makeover.
6. REFERENCES
1. V N Heggade, “Bearings & their Configurations
with in Bridge” System, The Bridge and Structural
Engineer, Vol 43/Number 4/December 2013, pp.
23-35.
14 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
new proposed longitudinal restrainer is given in
Table-6.
Structural Reinforcement High Tension
Steel (ton) (ton) Bar (ton)
8 7.1 4.2
3.8 9 -
arrangement and freezing of bearing are very
important undertakings for balanced cantilever
bridges where sliding bearings are proposed. For
New Brahmaputra Bridge at Guwahati, as the
dead weight of superstructure was very large,
new solutions had to be developed to cater for
the huge horizontal forces. The solutions also had
to be economical with minimum modification
to the existing structure and enabling simplicity
in execution. The final proposal for locking of
bearings scores better on both cost and effort
parameters.
Photo 11 Connecting Jalukbari Flyover
2. Dr. V. K. Raina, Avinash Y. Mahendrakar,
Amrendra N. Singh, “Philosophy of CAMBER-
CORRECTION to Obtain Correct Deck-Profile in
Cantilever Construction…. Brahmaputra Bridge
at Guwahati, India”, ING-IABSE seminar Mysore
2014 on Elevated Transport Corridors. pp. 160-
169.
3. V N Heggade, A.N.Singh, “New Saraighat Bridge-
Vital Link to Gateway of North East”, CEMCON
2017, ICI Pune centre, Pune 14 to 16 September
2017, pp 93-106.
 Paper No. 673

REPAIR FOR MAJOR CRACKS IN CENTRAL 2 SPANS OF THE 4 SPAN

CONTINUOUS MODULE OF VARSOVA BRIDGE ACROSS VASAI
CREEK ON NH-48 NEAR MUMBAI, INDIA

M L Gupta1 Dhananjay A Bhide2

ABSTRACT
Varsova Bridge is across Vasai Creek, about 35 km from Mumbai, India. It is on National Highway
48. Two bridges, 554.72 m long, exist at the crossing, built in 1970 and 2004 respectively. Old bridge
has 8 spans, The central 4 spans are with continuous PSC box girder super structure and have
span configuration of 57.3 + 2 x 114.6 + 57.3 m. This superstructure is with single cell box girder,
built with cantilever construction technique. 114.6 m span on Mumbai end developed a major
crack, 4 to 5 mm wide at about 12 m from mid span. Crack was across full width of soffit and
continued for 1/3rd web height in both webs. A crack in initial stage at similar location in next span,
a mirror image was also noticed. The paper describes the investigations made through analysis for
ascertaining the probable reasons and deciding remedial measures as well as execution of the same.

1. BRIDGE DETAILS: The main box structure, covering carriageway

National Highway – 48 has two bridges at
Varsova across Vasai Creek, known as Bassien
Creek Bridges when constructed. The old bridge,
constructed in 1970, has a span configuration of
48.46 + 2 x 57.3 + 2 x 114.3 + 2 x 57.3 + 48.46m.
Central 4 spans are with cantilever construction
from three piers. Cantilever construction was
continued for overhang of 8.84 m in penultimate
spans to support supported suspended spans
with rocker and rocker cum roller bearings.
Substructures are with plate piers and foundations
with single circular caissons. All simply supported
spans are with rocker and rocker cum roller
bearings. Substructures are with plate piers and
foundations with single circular caissons.
Bridge had 7.32 m carriage way, 1.525 m wide
raised foot paths on both sides and 0.180 m wide
railing kerbs. Overall deck width is 10.77 m.
and road kerb widths, is pre-stressed box while
raised footpaths are in RCC, added over it. Pre-
stressing was done with 12 φ 8 mm wire cables.
All un-tensioned reinforcement was of mild
steel. Concrete grade adopted was 46 MPa (6600
psi). The continuous module of 4 spans has fixed
rocker bearing at center of it and rocker cum
roller bearings at all other locations. The bridge
was designed for 2 lanes of class ‘A’ loads or
one lane of class ‘AA’ loads over carriageway
and footpath load of 400 kg/Sqm. Most of the
anchorages for hogging pre-stressing cables in
deck slab & webs are internal. Few are anchored
in blisters in deck slab bottom. The anchorages
for sagging cables in soffit slab were with blisters
on top of soffit slab.
Bridge had some repair history. The simply
supported spans were strengthened in 1989. All

1
Jt. Managing Director, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., e-mail: ml.gupta@irb.co.in
2
Vice President (Structures), Modern Road Makers Pvt. Ltd., e-mail: bhideda@yahoo.co.in

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 15

 Paper No. 673

four spans i.e. suspended spans as well as end
spans were strengthened with 20 nos. 12.7 mm dia
strands, provided externally for each of the girders.
The main spans of the bridge were repaired in
2002. These had developed some local cracks and
those were epoxy grouted, as was evident from
surfaces of the box deck. Some major cracking was
evident at stressing ends of blisters in soffit slab.
These areas, around blisters were strengthened
with epoxy grouting and steel plates fixed around
blisters, on top of soffit slab with anchor bolts.
(Photograph no. 2). Records or design details of
both these repairs were not available.
2. THE DAMAGE:
The main 114.6 m span on Mumbai side, developed
a crack in soffit slab Photo 1. The crack was at
12 m from center, towards Mumbai side, on
upstream side and 9 m on downstream, covering
full width of soffit slab.
It continued in both webs for about one third depth
as well. This crack was about 4 to 5 mm wide in
soffit region and had penetrated for full depth of
soffit slab (Photographs 2 & 3). It was visible
from underside of the bridge as well. The crack
in web also had penetrated for full width and was
visible from outside. A small crack, in its initial
stage was also noticed in other span, almost at
mirror image location.
The Bridge did not show any untoward deformation,
despite such a major crack. As such traffic of light
vehicles, with height restriction of 2.4 m was
allowed to ply.
3. AVAILABLE DATA:
The authorities could not locate either designs or
‘as built’ drawings of the Bridge in their records.
However the original contractor could locate copies
of some scanned drawings from their records.
About 31 drawings were available. Majority of
construction details were available. The layout
of main cantilever cables, plan layout of soffit
cables, reinforcement at various sections, anchor
block details, cable composition, properties of pre-
stressing steel, concrete grade and most importantly
dimensions of box girder were available from
these drawings. Construction sequence, jack end
stresses, creep and relaxation parameters, were not
available. Beside this, details of suspended spans
were available, almost in totality.

Photo 1: The Bridge and Crack Locations

Photo 2: Crack in Web & Old Strengthening Photo: 3 Width of Crack in Soffit Slab

16 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 673
The study of available drawings led to some
important facts. The clear cover was 50 mm. Web
thickness varied between 450 mm to 250 mm,
smaller towards center of the span. The thickness
of soffit slab varied from 750 mm to 350 mm. The
thickness was 450 mm for central 18 m, then reduced
to 350 mm for next 16 m on either sides and then
increased to 750 mm till pier locations. The pre-
stressing was with large numbers of 12φ8 wires.
Fig. 1 Section Showing Cables in Soffit Slab
All the reinforcement was of mild steel. The
secondary reinforcement i.e. in longitudinal
direction was very widely spaced and significantly
less than what is prevailing today. The longitudinal
bars in soffit, near location of crack were 16 mm
diameter at 430 mm center to center, both at top
and bottom.
4. SITE INSPECTION AND
OBSERVATIONS:
Inspection of the Bridge was made in light of
the available information. The main thrust was
to verify the available external details, detailed
mapping of cracks, prepare the test program and
gather any other available information.
First step was to map the cracks those could be
associated with structural damage. The observed
major crack and a minor crack in other span,
almost at mirror image location appeared to be
only serious cracks with structural implications.
The cracks were tension cracks. No crushing of
concrete was evident. Beside these many cracks
in webs, diaphragms and blisters, at stressing ends
were evident. Most of them were already treated
with epoxy grouting and strengthening with
steel plates, both in longitudinal and transverse
orientations. The cracks treated with steel plates
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 17
Most of the cables for cantilever construction were
anchored over web depth. Cables were with 50 mm
diameter, lead coated sheathing and arranged in
groups of four cables. Clear distance between cable
groups was 50 mm only. The number of cables was
unusually large due to small ultimate capacity of
922 kN of each of the individual cable. The cables
covered quite large area of both deck and soffit
slabs, as seen from Figs. 1 and 2.
Fig. 2 Section Showing Cables in Deck Slab
were probably structural cracks. Other cracks
appeared to be due to local effects resulting from
aging of the structure, without any serious structural
implications. Some cable ends were exposed and
bent wires showed corrosion. The surface finish
of soffit slab was very rough while same for deck
slab and webs was relatively smooth. The exterior
of the bridge was painted with protective paint.
Some patches, especially at cantilever bottoms
had exposed reinforcement in various stages of the
corrosion.
Blister locations, as available from drawings and
seen at site were verified. At center of the span,
ten blisters were noticed in deck slab bottom,
which were not detailed in the available drawings.
The constructor was requested to make search for
missing detail, if any, but could not locate any
further drawings. The symmetrical disposition
and orientation of these blisters indicated towards
additional cables in deck slab in this portion.
5. INITIAL ANALYSIS FOR PROPOSED
REHABILITATION:
The analysis was contemplated with LUSAS
bridge design software. The FEM models were
required for construction as well as service
conditions. Construction stage model was for
 Paper No. 673

cantilevers constructed from each pier and and data for pre-stressing was prepared.
prestress from cables stressed at that stage Fig. 1. Service stage model was with integration of
The prestressing cable layout was available in three construction stage models and overhangs
print copy only. As such the same was digitized Figs. 2 to 4.

Fig. 3 Schematic Cable Layout Fig. 4 Typical Generated Cable

Fig. 5 Model of Individual Cantilever in LUSAS

Fig. 6 Model of Full Continuous Length of the Bridge

Effects of continuity cables i.e. mainly for sagging
moments were considered on full model. The
cables at center of main spans, not available from
drawings but seen at site with blisters for the same,
were added as per assessment. Subsequent loads i.e.
secondary effects due to change in support system,
footpath, wearing coat etc., and full roadway live
load were considered on service stage model.
LUSAS accounts for prestressing effects through
option “Prestress Wizard”. For simplicity, a
prestressing force of 1000 kN was applied on
model and then all prestressing loads were
combined with load factor of (Initial prestress –
Losses)/1000. The net force in 12φ8 cable was 665
KN. The assumptions made for prestress effects
gave extensions of the cables that were consistent
with those available from drawings. This provided
satisfactory validation of the model.
Dead load was applied with concrete density of
2.5 kN/Cum. Dead load of suspended span, 1750
kN was directly applied. Creep redistribution was
18 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
applied as per equation no. K. K. 119 of EN 1992-
2: 2005. The creep redistribution factor worked out
as 0.67. For construction sequence and periods,
suitable assumptions were considered.
The original design was not expected to account
for temperature gradient, still the same as per
clause 213.5 of IRC-6: 2014 was considered. The
relaxation losses as per prevailing practice were
allowed.
The analysis till this stage showed the bridge, when
constructed, had adequate prestress for the loads
considered at original design stage. This indicated
that design as per then prevalent parameters was
quite reasonable. A direct assessment of loss of
prestress at crack location was not feasible. An
assessment was made with reducing the prestress
progressively, till a crack of the width of 4mm
was developed at the actually cracked section.
This indicated the loss of prestress to the tune of
80%. With this background a test program was
made.
 Paper No. 673

6. TEST PROGRAM AND RESULTS:

This was aimed to assess current condition of the
Bridge. The test locations were determined from
available detailed drawings and visual inspection
so as to avoid damage to tendons and reinforcement
to the extent possible.
The proposed tests were concrete cores, Ground
Penetration Radar (GPR) survey for reinforcement,
intrusive investigation of ducts, chloride gradient
and carbonation levels. These were done in two
stages, prior to preparation of measures and after
first analysis results. During proof checking of the
proposed measures, proof checker suggested for
half-cell potential tests. These were done over area
in vicinity of the major crack.
6.1 Concrete Core Tests:
16 samples were collected in first stage and 12 in
second stage. Samples were from soffit slab, webs
and diaphragms. The overall average strength was
38 MPa. The mean strengths were 39.2 MPa for
soffit slab, 35.4 MPa for webs, and 41.2 MPa for
diaphragms. The design strength was 46 MPa. The
individual variation was also large, varying from
19.2 MPa to 50.4 MPa.
6.2 GPR Survey and Intrusive Investigations
of Ducts:
8 locations were identified for this. The locations
of ducts and nearby reinforcements were
determined with GPR survey. 20 mm diameter
holes were drilled at required locations till cables
were reached. An endoscope was inserted to view
the actual wire(s) in cable and grout around. This
confirmed some corrosion at cracked location and
almost intact tendons at other locations.
Photo 4: Wire not Showing any Corrosion
Photo 5: Wire Showing Corrosion
6.3 Chloride Gradient tests:
The test was conducted at 8 locations. Samples
were collected at depths of 25 mm, 50 mm, and
100 mm. Medium to high chloride concentration
was observed. It reduced significantly beyond
50 mm depth. Samples from span with major crack
showed relatively higher concentrations.
6.4 Carbonation Tests:
These were done with samples from the cores. The
carbonation depths were insignificant.
6.5 Half Cell Potential Test:
This was done at 4 locations in the vicinity of
major crack on grid of about 1m square. The results
showed no significant corrosion of reinforcement.
This may be due to use of mild steel reinforcement.
7. CONCLUSION FROM INITIAL
ANALYSIS AND TESTS:
7.1 From Tests:
Cores showed high correlation with density.
This indicated good test quality. Low strengths
observed with wide variation may be due to poor
compaction. The concrete strength to be allowed
in analysis was assessed form observed strength
values. The derived concrete, from cores tested
showed a wide variation. The mean strength of
first set of the samples from soffit was 38 MPa,
so was from the second set. The mean density of
the samples, 25.47 kN/Cum was quite high. The
available results were analyzed in light of Concrete
Society Technical Report 11, BD 44 (assessment
code for concrete bridges, DOT 2015, UK) and
EN 1992-1-1 A.2.3. The inference was concrete
should be considered as equivalent to 24.35, say

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 19

 Paper No. 673
25 MPa, especially in the region of cracks. This
value was considered for refined analysis. The cores
were well distributed in two affected spans. Close
enough cores, to provide any indication towards
localized variation in concrete strength, were
impractical. Individual core had to be considered
as representative of area. For purpose of analysis it
was decided to use the concrete strength of 25 MPa.
Some corrosion was evident but the extent of loss
of tendons or prestress could not be quantified
accurately.
7.2 From Analysis:
Comparison of test results with analysis suggested
that the structure should have significant prestress
and permanent compression, as per designed details.
Loss of prestress to form the crack as existing
appeared to be very substantial, to the tune of 80%
of applied prestress. Prestress loss appeared to
be local and significant prestress to be available
at short distance from crack. As such, analysis
accounted for two situations of the prestress at crack
locations, an upper bound with 100% prestress and
lower bound with 20% prestress only.
8. REASONS FOR CRACKING:
The cracking may have resulted from the
combination of the following:
a. Reduced concrete strength due to poor
compaction or curing.
b. Low residual stress, potentially due to
combination of greater than predicted
prestress loss; corrosion of tendons; failure to
install or only partial stressing of some the
tendons.
c. Increase in live loads passing over the
bridge since its construction, than originally
designed live loads.
d. Frequent passage of overloaded vehicles.
e. Greater than allowed creep redistribution,
probably resulting from poor concrete.
f. Underestimation of losses due to relaxation,
temperature gradient effects and unaccounted
local effects behind anchorages in blisters.
9. IDENTIFIED STRENGTHENING
OPTIONS:
The following three possible options were
identified.
20 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
9.1 Under Slung Truss:
This is passive system to support the structure and
needs to be stiff. Since any intermediate support
was impractical, system can only be made stiff
enough by providing tension element a much
longer lever arm without proportional reduction in
area. This would encroach in navigation clearance
quite substantially. Since both navigation spans
were to be strengthened getting clearance from
Navigation Authorities would have been very
difficult. The scheme however did not work to be
stiff enough to act as purely passive system.
9.2 Plate Bonding:
This is one of the effective ways of strengthening.
Convenience favors use of composite plates, using
carbon fibers than steel plates. The composites
require a large strain to fully use the strength of
composite material and only half or lesser strength
only can be used. Low concrete strengths and
extensive cracking, observed in regions of distress
limits the tensile strain the concrete can be subjected
to. Removal of dead load before applying plate
was also not practical. A disproportionate amount
of plate requirement was expected and therefore
did not appear to be a main strengthening option.
9.3 Additional External Prestress:
This is an active system that applies permanent
forces to the bridge. Since investigation could
not provide full information on state of prestress
it would be necessary to design the system for
already identified upper and lower bounds of the
original prestress at various sections. Experience
shows the prestress can vary considerably and even
broken tendons can re-anchor in short lengths, of
the order of 1m.
9.4 Adopted Strengthening Measure:
The option of additional external prestress, as
major contributor and in combination with plate
bonding at crack location, appeared to be viable
repair measure and was adopted.
10. REFINED ANALYSIS AND
STRENGTHENING MEASURES:
The models made in LUSAS were revised for
final analysis. The models up to loading of all
dead loads were for as constructed. These were
then integrated to account for cracked section
with assumed bonded plates at the location of the
 Paper No. 673

actual crack. The section properties were modified The section checks were made at seven locations
to account for the same. External prestressing was i.e. three intermediate support sections, two
now included in the model. These models were used locations of center of main spans, mid span of
for both ULS and SLS analyses. The stresses were one end span and most importantly the location of
superimposed as per load application sequence and major crack.
appropriate geometry and support conditions.

Fig. 7 Sections from Continuous Length of the Bridge for Stress and Capacity Checks
For capacity calculations partial safety factors of
1.5 and 1.15 were considered for concrete and
steel, respectively. For stress check the strength of
25 MPa was considered in region of the crack i.e.
mainly in soffit area. Maximum allowable stress
of 0.48 times of 25 MPa i.e. 12 MPa in region of
crack was considered. In other areas the maximum
stress was limited to 15 MPa, considered in original
design. Tensile strength of concrete was completely
ignored at crack location. External prestressing
with grease filled, low relaxation, 15.2 mm
diameter 7 ply strands was considered. Prestress
was limited to 930 MPa after all losses i.e. about
50% of UTS. Three sets of external cables were
envisaged. At each location, one 4 strand cable on
either side of each of the webs was considered.
Anchor blocks were provided in webs. The cables
were taken parallel to soffit slab with deviator
block assembly fixed to underside of box girder.
Cables were held in position at three locations
between deviator blocks. The prestress was
imparted in stages. Development of compression
in critical sections was gradual. Buildup of tensile
stresses was avoided. For durability a three layer
protection is provided to external cables. Cables
were formed with Grease filled strands in HDPE
sheath and grouted with cement grout.
Typical lay out and details of prestressing cables in
one span were as in Fig. 6.
The section at crack location was considered as an
RCC section. The reinforcement in form of both,
steel plate and carbon warp were considered. For
steel plate tensile stress of 240 MPa was allowed
and for carbon wrap same was derived as equivalent
force to the tune of 10 times of steel stress.

A B

`2'
`1'

A B

LONGITUDINAL ELEVATION

PLAN

GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR STRENGTHENING

Fig. 8 Typical Arrangement for External Prestressing of Span

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 21

TABLE-1: TENDON DETAIL:-
JACKING EXPECTED
TENDON NO. OF STRESSING
FORCE ELONGATION
DESIGNATION STRANDS SEQUENCE
(kN) (mm)
T1 (P4-P6) 4T15 655 388 1

T1 (P6-P8) 4T15 655 388 2

T2 (P4-P6) 4T15 655 341 3

T2 (P6-P8) 4T15 655 341 4

T3 (P4-P6) 4T15 655 298 5

 Paper No. 673

Live Load effects for three options; Class A 2 lane, both existing and external prestress, superimposed
One lane of Class A and B each or 2 lanes of Class dead loads and live loads were considered as
B were investigated. Pedestrian live load was primary actions. Secondary actions; arising from
ignored as per ground situation. external prestress, differential temperature and
Verification of stresses and capacity was done for creep were also considered for stress checks. The
both, SLS and ULS conditions. For this dead load, stresses for SLS and capacities for ULS at critical
sections are tabulated below.
Table 1: Observed Stresses in Flexure under SLS Conditions:

Section considered Stress for Serviceability Limit State with live loads of
1 lane each of Class A and Class B 2 lanes of Class A
At Top (MPa) At Bottom (MPa) At Top (MPa) At Bottom (MPa)
Center of Span P8–P9 14.6 2.3 15.2 1.7
Support P6 3.9 10 3.2 10.6
Support P8 1.8 10 1.2 10.5
At cracked section 11.5 -160* 12.3 -189*
Center of Span P6-P8 14.3 5.8 15.2 4.8
* Tensile stress is in steel plate / carbon lamination, as an RCC section
Table 2: Observed Section Capacities in Flexure under ULS Conditions:

Section considered Section capacity for Ultimate Moment with Live Lad due to (MNm)
Ultimate Limit State 1 lane each of Class A 2 lanes of Class A
(MNm) and Class B
Center of Span P8–P9 95 85 92
Support P6 368 330 350
Support P8 361 314 330
At cracked section 53 51 55
Center of Span P6-P8 68 66 72
The strengthening of cracked section with carbon capacity nor operate for an unrestricted traffic. The
laminates to control further cracking was found allowable load had to be equivalent to 2 lanes of
more suitable Fig. 7. Typical requirement was class B. A direct correlation between hypothetical
1700 kN/m (Type 3) at soffit bottom in longitudinal design loads and commercially plying loads is not
direction. The anchor blocks for external cables available. Normal practice is to indicate the axle load
were anchored in webs. Local tensile stresses that is allowed on the facility as a method of load
developed due to concentrated prestress at these restriction. Physical enforcement of such restriction
points, mainly behind the block in longitudinal was not possible on this busy section of national
direction and at top in vertical. Local strengthening highway with this. Other alternative to provide a
with carbon wrap was done to cater for these the low height barrier will not allow heavy vehicles.
tensile forces. Typical strengths were 200 kN/m in
In order to allow mixed traffic it was decided to
vertical direction on both web faces and 350 kN/m
create two lanes, one narrow lane, 2.5 m wide and
in longitudinal direction (Types 1 & 2). The soffit
2.4 m height for passenger cars and another a 3.5 m
slab at anchor locations was strengthened for 0.8m
wide lane for heavy vehicles. A combined effective
width for 350 kN/m (Type 4) as well.
load on the bridge was very near to assessed
11. RECOMMECDATIONS FOR LIVE capacity of two lanes of class B. The separation
LOAD ON BRIDGE: was planned with height barrier and light weight
From the analysis it was quite clear that the Bridge posts at 15 m spacing with wire ropes stringed in
can neither be strengthened for full live load between.

22 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 673

12. TYPICAL DETAILS OF STRENGTHENING MEASURES:

Fig. 9 Typical Detail of Anchor Block and Deviator Block

Fig. 10 Locations of Strengthening with Carbon Fiber / Laminates

Fig. 11 Typical Details of Anchor Block Fixed to Web Fig. 12 Anchor and Deviator Assembly
and Precast Anchorage of Cable

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 23

 Paper No. 673
Fig. 13 Typical Details of Hanger
13. MONITORING:
Monitoring was extensively discussed. Initially
it was suggested with installing strain gauges for
instantaneous monitoring i.e. strains developed
during application of external prestress and
subsequently for long term with recoding strains at
specified intervals. The load test was contemplated
for full design load. After protracted deliberations it
was concluded that the strain readings with gauges
installed over carbon fiber strengthening will
not yield any reliable information. Deformation
observations will be more reliable and would
be more dependable evaluation parameter.
Accordingly it was decided to record strains during
prestressing operations to ensure compressive
stresses are induced, followed by load test with
full design load. For performance evaluation it was
decided to conduct load test with 50% load at an
interval of 3 months.
Thus a total of 24 strain gauges were mounted at
three sections each in two main spans. These were
at crack locations, center of span and towards
central support. Observed strains indicated the
compressive stresses were imparted with external
prestress. The compressive strains observed in
span P4-P6 were little less than expected while
same in span P6-P8 were on higher side. This may
be due to actual physical strength and condition of
concrete as well as residual prestress different than
that estimated from tests.
24 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
The full design load test was conducted on span P4-
P6. Six trucks with 25t load of each were positioned
at predetermined locations, two at a time. The
observed deformation at crack location was 85%
of theoretical value. The recovery was 92% in 17
hours. No fresh cracks were observed during entire
test. This confirmed the assumed concrete and
prestress parameters were on conservative side.
The bench mark instantaneous deformation readings
with three trucks in each span were recorded. These
will be compared with observed deformations
during subsequent quarterly tests. The criteria
for evaluation as agreed is (a) if deformation is
within 10% bench mark deformation, traffic will
be allowed as prevailing; (b) if deformation is
within 10% to 20% in excess, another test will be
conducted after a fortnight. If observation persists
then traffic will be regulated to light vehicles only
and further investigations will be initiated; (c) if
deformation is in excess of 20%, traffic will be
discontinued and further investigations will be
carried out. The observed deformations for this
loading were almost 50% of those observed for full
load test. This also indicated the elastic behavior
of the repaired structure, another pointer towards
satisfactory strengthening measures.
14. EXECUTION OF STRENGTHENING
MEASURES:
The sequence followed for strengthening
measures was i) Epoxy grouting of cracks, ii)
map reinforcement at various anchor and deviator
locations, iii) providing carbon warp / laminates at
required locations, iv) drill hole for fixing various
components, v) fix deviators, anchor blocks,
hangers etc. vi) fix the bonded plates at all required
locations, vii) install monitoring system, viii)
provide and stress tendons as per sequence, ix) load
test the bridge and x) install the lane divider rope
barrier and height barriers for regulated traffic.
The epoxy grouting of cracks was completed
concurrently with review and checking of the
detailed design and drawings for the repair
measures. The major crack consumed 170 kg of
epoxy while 14 kg was consumed in the minor
crack. Epoxy grouting durations were 30 hours and
3 hours, respectively.
3 nos. of suspended moving platforms were erected
in each of the main spans for external activities.
 Paper No. 673
Platforms were of full width and were accessible
from deck Photo 7. The required scaffolding, to
reach bottom of box girder was erected on these
as and when required. These enabled simultaneous
Photo 7 Movable Platforms in Position
The locations of various anchor blocks, holes for
cables, deviator bock assemblies and cable hangers
were marked at each of their locations. For any
construction, some deviation in locations of cables
and especially the reinforcement, from those shown
in drawings is inevitable. As such mapping with
Ground Penetration Radar was done to identify
likely alignment of the cables and reinforcements
at the locations of various fixtures. Based on this,
locations for drilling holes were identified. Holes
were drilled in cover portion and then continued if
Photo 9 Inclined Drilling for Holes in Soffit
The surface preparations for carbon wrap around
anchor blocks and crack locations followed. The
carbon wraps were fixed for required heights and
lengths, both internally and externally Photo 8.
The holes for passing cables through soffit slab
were drilled with core cutting equipment. These
were erected in required alignment with help of
custom made frames for each of the locations
Photo 9.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 25
activities at multiple locations. Drilling of holes in
soffit of girders for fixing deviator blocks, hangers,
cleaning of box surface for providing carbon wrap
/laminates were done from these platforms.
Photo 8 Holes for Anchor Blocks & Carbon Wrap
no obstruction was encountered. Suitable templates
were made from actual locations of holes Photo 8.
The holes in anchor and deviator blocks were to
be drilled accordingly to get proper match. This
extended the work at site but facilitated an easy
and effective installation later. For inclined holes
in soffit slab a guide frame was made to get the
same in required alignment Photo 9.
Fabrication of components, drilling holes in
soffit, carbon wrap / laminates, were parallel
activates.
Photo 10 Anchor Blocks
The bolts for anchor blocks were through HSFG
bolts with nuts to tighten from either side. To
ensure proper elongation of bolts, these were
wrapped in thin plastic sheet to avoid bonding with
epoxy filling done later. Anchor blocks were held
in position and gaps between blocks and webs were
filled with low viscosity epoxy. The blocks were
designed to transfer prestress through the pressure
induced after tightening of HSFG bolts Photo 10.
 Paper No. 673
The deviator assembly was designed with three
distinct parts, (1) bracket to fix it to soffit, (2) cross
beam spanning across to transfer load to webs and
(3) deviator pipes. Purpose was to account for
inaccuracies of constructed box girder and holes
Photo 11: Bracket and Crossbeam Lifting
HDPE sheaths were fixed and strands were
threaded through them. The cables at each section
i.e. two cables on inside and outside faces each
were stressed together. The web of box girder
did not allow use of any common manifold for
stressing jacks. As such each jack was stressed
separately with close coordination of imparted
force. At no instant the differential of force was
allowed to exceed 5% of the intended force. Thus
stressing was completed without any significant
unsymmetrical force in the webs.
15. LOAD TEST:
A full load test of the span for design loads on span
with major crack was contemplated to assess the
effects of strengthening measures. The test load
was generated with available commercially plying
25t tippers, filled to their capacity with aggregates.
For assessing the adequacy, the criterion was
Photo 13 Full Load Test in Progress
26 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
drilled. However the templates made after drilling
holes and matching holes in base plates facilitated
accurate installation. The base bracket and cross
beam were erected in assembled condition.
Deviator blocks were fixed later Photos 11 & 12.
Photo 12: Deviator Assembly in Position
measurement of deflection at crack location
and mid-point of the span and observations
for development of cracks, if any. Cracks, if
developed, up to width of 0.2 mm was considered
acceptable at the end of retaining the full load for
24 hours. A total of 6 tippers were required and
stationed at designed locations on deck Photo 13.
The deformation measurements were made with
total station with ½ arc second accuracy, located on
well cap of adjacent bridge. Prisms were fixed to
bottom of soffit slab for reading the deformations.
The observed deformations and strains were within
anticipated limits.
The load test for bench mark deformation records
was conducted thereafter and deformation were
recorded for monitoring the bridge behavior during
further service. The test was conducted with lane
barriers placed in position Photo 14.
Photo 14 Lane Barrier Segregating Traffic Lanes
 Paper No. 673
The bridge inspection for distress, both internally
and externally did not reveal any cracks. The bridge
was now found to be safe for intended regulated
traffic and opened for the same.
16. SALIENT EQUIPMENT:
Special movable platforms suspended from
footpath kerb, 3 in each 114.6 m span; small
capacity crane; 2 nos. boats; 5t winches, 4 nos.;
6 nos. of dump trucks; water tanker; core cutting
machines, drilling equipment, work shop tools;
diesel generators, prestressing equipment, 5 sets.;
2 nos. of total stations with ½ arc second accuracy;
strain gauges with data loggers etc.
17. CONCLUSIONS:
• An indeterminate structure needs very careful
and detailed investigation and analysis.
• Non availability of proper records of
design & construction leads to high degree
of uncertainty in assessment of existing
structure, especially indeterminate structures.
Assessments have to be quite conservative.
• Loss of prestress, corresponding to desired
crack width could be estimated with analysis
carried out with LUSAS. FEM analysis is a
good tool for such investigations. A detailed
investigation and analysis will lead to a
simpler rehabilitation measure.
• Intrusive testing indicated cables were
grouted properly.
• The observed scatter in concrete strengths of
core samples was very wide, ranging from
19 Mpa to 54 Mpa but density was quite
uniform. The corrosion of wires in cables was
quite low. Mild steel reinforcement showed
very insignificant corrosion, even after 50
years.
• The original design did cater for aspects
arising from indeterminacy quite well, even
in absence sophisticated design tools.
• Inadequate provisions for relaxation loss;
creep effects; local effects of concentrated
forces at intermediate anchorage locations;
widely spaced secondary reinforcement and
substantial increase in traffic density coupled
with changed loading pattern over the years
were probable major causes for observed
distress.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 27
• Active rehabilitation measures with prestress
are significantly lighter than any other passive
measures. The measures were simpler to
execute and required very light equipment
only.
• Use of low cost movable light platforms added
to efficiency of operations very substantially.
• Deformation of structure was found to be, a
realistic and easy to determine parameter for
monitoring.
• Indian Roads Congress (IRC) may consider
publishing a document that can provide some
specification for tests for repair work. The
number of samples to be tested, guideline
for assessment of concrete strength from
test results, determination of residual
reinforcement areas, extent of allowable
destructive tests on structure, allowable
overstresses in various elements etc. can be
some of the major aspects. Monitoring of
distressed structure shall be highlighted in the
said document. Guideline to estimate residual
service life of repaired structure may also be
included. Said document may include the
salient aspects of prevailing design practices,
design parameters, material properties,
allowable stresses, construction methods and
like details.
• None of the documents published by IRC
provide any direct correlation between actual
loads plying on highway and hypothetical
design loads specified. This is a major
handicap for engineer who has to specify the
loads on the bridge in terms of loads plying
on highway.
• The state of records available with authorities
is extremely dismal. For practical purposes
no records are available, as a rule. Authorities
may consider this as severe lacuna and take
immediate steps to maintain proper records
of the assets i.e. designs and drawings, in
particular. At least the engineers will be
in better position to address the distressed
situation with confidence, 30 years down the
line.
• Engineer shall make every effort to keep the
additional load on distressed structure to bare
minimum to prolong its residual service life.
 Paper No. 673

18. CREDITS:
1. Owner : National Highway Authority of India.
2. Independent Engineer : Consulting Engineers Group Pvt. Ltd.
3. Concessionaire : IRB Surat – Dahisar Tollway Pvt. Ltd.
4. Design Consultant : Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.
5. Proof Checking : Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
6. Monitoring : Sardar Patel Engineering College.
7. Execution : Modern Road Makers Pvt. Ltd. and SMC Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

19. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 2. IRC:SP:37-2010: “Guidelines for Evaluation

The Authors express sincere thanks to Mr. V N
Heggade & G P Joshi of M/S Gammon India Ltd.
for making available the scanned copies of the
drawings of the bridge, and Mr. R V Varadkar of
M/s. Spectrum Techno Consultants Pvt. Ltd. for
preparing figures for the paper.
20. REFERANCES:
1. IRC: 6-2014: “Standard Specifications and
Code of Practice for Road Bridges, Section
II – Loads and Stresses”.
of Load carrying Capacity of Bridges”.
3. Concrete Society Technical Report 11:
Concrete Core Testing for Strength
4. BD 44: “Assessment Code for Concrete
Bridges DOT 2015, UK”.
5. EN 1992-1: “Euro Code 2: Design of
Concrete Structures – Part 1-1: General Rules
and Rules for Buildings”.
6. EN 1992-2: 2005: “Euro Code 2: Design
of Concrete Structures – Concrete Bridges:
Design and Detailing Rules”.

NEW/REVISED PUBLICATIONS OF IRC in 2017

The IRC has brought out the following New/Revised Publications. These prestigious publications will be quite
useful to the Highway Professionals.
Title of the Document Price Packing & Postage
IRC:7-2017 Recommended Practice for Numbering Culverts, Bridges and 100.00 20.00
Tunnels (Second Revision)
IRC:15-2017 “Code of Practice for Construction of Jointed Plain Concrete 1000.00 40.00
Pavements (Fifth Revision)
IRC:44-2017 “Guidelines for Cement Concrete Mix Design for Pavements” 500.00 40.00
(Third Revision)
IRC:65-2017 “Planning and Design of Roundabouts” (First Revision) 400.00 40.00
IRC:121-2017 Guidelines for Use of Construction and Demolition Waste in 300.00 40.00
Road Sector
IRC:122-2017 Guidelines for Construction of Precast Concrete Segmental Box 300.00 40.00
Culverts
IRC:123-2017 Guidelines on Geophysical Investigation for Bridges 600.00 40.00
IRC:125-2017 Guidelines on Dozers for Highway Works 400.00 40.00
IRC:126-2017 Guidelines on Wet Mix Plant 400.00 40.00
IRC:SP-93-2017 Guidelines on Requirements for Environmental Clearance for 1200.00 40.00
Road Projects (First Revision)
IRC:SP:111-2017 Capacity Building of Road Agencies In Charge of 300.00 40.00
Implementation of Road Projects in Urban Areas
IRC:SP:112-2017 Manual for Quality Control in Road and Bridge works 1500.00 40.00
Copies of these publications can be obtained from IRC Office against cash payment. For more details please contact
+ 91 11 2338 7759 and E-mail: ircsale1934@gmail.com

28 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 674

Application of Intelligent Transport System towards

Making Smart City through the Preparation of CMP for
Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Prof. P.K. Sarkar1 Ms. Naina Gupta2

ABSTRACT
The era of developing smart cities draws attention towards application of sustainable & eco-friendly
technologies with smart & innovative solutions for enhanced mobility. Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS) is one of the tools which enable an effective management of public transport systems
& enhancement of utilization, safety and security of transport infrastructure. This study aims to
address the preparation of comprehensive mobility plan for the capital city of Gujarat, Gandhi
Nagar with reference to the conceptualization and implementation of policies and strategies for
developing sustainable transport infrastructure by using ITS as one of the effective tools to achieve
the same. Gandhinagar towards the horizon year, 2036 is estimated to cater to the estimated travel
demand of 20,13,175 passenger trips (1) Thus, the city needs for high capacity Bus Rapid Transit
System (BRTS) for higher PHPDT corridors, organized conventional bus systems for medium
PHPDT corridors and Personalized Rapid Transport (PRT) for low PHPDT corridors apart from
the development of MRTS are to be addressed by the horizon year.
Further, for integration of above modes through the application of Intelligent Transport System
(ITS) with innovative solutions like use of smart mobility card for ticketing system have been
considered in this Paper. A detailed analysis of 'with' and 'without' use of smart mobility card
technology is documented for the enhanced ridership, savings in time, costs and financial gains.
Based on the analysis carried out in this study, savings in transaction time by 70% and 77% for
bus and metro users with an additional savings in waiting at ticketing counters by 6.3 min, 2.3 min
coupled with the enhancement in the ridership 5.7% for metro and bus users respectively.
The detailed financial viability of project with varying funding options was carried out which
revealed the Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) of 8.64% without Viability Gap Funding
(VGF) parameter while FIRR of 17% with VGF works out to 40%.
1. INTRODUCTION problems in the management of transportation
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is an facilities1,2. To address these issues, the focus is
now shifting from infrastructure development to
innovative and smart tool for enhancing the
the optimum use of the existing facilities, where
productivity of various transportation systems, role of ITS proves very useful. To develop ITS
but still has not been explored to its maximum based smart city, a quick estimation of travel
potential in India. Almost every country of the demand for base as well as future year using four
world whether developing or developed, are facing stages model development is carried out.
1
Director, Transportation, Asian Institute of Transport Development, New Delhi, E-mail: sarkarpradip52@gmail.com
2
Deputy Manager, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 29

 Paper No. 674
Keeping in view of the upcoming Smart City
Mission, a study has been conducted in Gandhi
Nagar to quantify the potential benefits of
integrating various public transport systems using
Smart Cards and ITS. Also, the techniques of real
time information, speed detection cameras and red
light Violation detection cameras have been used
to address the issues of safety
2. PROFILE OF GANDHINAGAR
The city of Gandhi Nagar lies within the
Gandhinagar district and is the administrative
capital of Gujarat. Gandhi Nagar is developed
with an area of 387 sq.km, while Gandhi Nagar
Municipal Corporation (GMC) includes an area of
57 sq.km (2,3). The city is well connected by road,
rail and air. The highways like NH-8C and SH-71
pass through city linking with Ahmedabad and
other parts of country. The city is planned in Grid
iron form with 30 sectors along Sabarmati river,
housing a population of 2,06,296 (Census 2011)
and density of 36 pph, proving to be one of the less
dense capital cities of the nation.
Gandhi Nagar enjoys a location advantage as it is
very close to Ahmedabad, the commercial capital
of Gujarat. The city lies within the proximity of the
high investment projects like GIFT City, High Speed
Rail Corridor, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor
and its allied investment zones, thereby exhibiting
high growth potential. The city experiences an
average growth rate of 1.61% but it is expected
to increase in future years with the influence of
upcoming developments. The city is planned 4 in
grid iron pattern with 30 sectors along Sabarmati
river. It houses a total population of 2.06 Lakhs
(census 2011) and a density of 36 pph, proving to
be one of the less dense capital cities of the nation.
The city being, an administrative capital is planned
with 25% Public Semi-Public (PSP), and with an
Residential share of 22%. Transportation sector
occupies a lion share of 17% of land (which is
somewhat comparable with Delhi share of 22%)
while a share of 10% is observed under recreational.
The CBD of the city is located in Sector 16, 21 with
the presence of Info city (Information Technology
City). Further, each sector has small commercial
space making it sustainable. Mass Rapid Transit
System (MRTS) has been proposed in the study
30 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
area to cater to the “intercity trips” commute
between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad.
3. PREPARATION OF DATA BASE
A study was conducted in January, 2016 by .the
Department of Transport Planning of SPA as a part
of academic exercise1 for Gandhinagar comprising
of different transport surveys i.e. Household
Surveys at Household, Establishments & Activity
areas and Outer Cordon Points; Speed and Delay
Surveys; Classified Traffic Volume Count Surveys;
Public Transport surveys using user opinion
surveys; boarding alighting survey and terminal
survey; Parking Surveys. From the surveys, it is
inferred that the city network offers an average
speed of 44.3 Kmph, with minimal delays (7-31
sec), which happen to be primarily operational
delays. About 88% of the study network is provided
with footpaths, while 12% is deprived of the same
on the road sections along the National Highway
falling in this category, faces a major issue of
discontinuity despite the availability of Footpath
inurban section. Pedestrian facilities which aid
pedestrians to cross the roads like zebra crossings
are present but there is no foot over bridge/subway
present, even on stretches like NH-8C where
average speed of vehicular traffic are to be around
55 Kmph with significant share of pedestrian using
the highway .
The Public Transport (PT) connectivity is offered
by buses Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation
(GSRTC) & Vallabhipur Transportation
Cooperative Society Pvt Ltd (VTCOS) The facilities
& comfort offered by GSRTC is superior quality
of buses than VITCOS operated buses, but it lags
in terms of in reliability & frequency; adversely
affecting passenger ridership. The existing demand
for public transport is of the order of 35,698 trips.
Overlapping routes is high within the core areas
leading to disparity in coverage. The density of
bus network is 1.92 Km per sq. Km area, pointing
towards availability of high supply of road network.
Service coverage indicates that 66% of population
are within 500 m walking distance. The city's public
transport system offers good level of service (LOS),
but key attributes like waiting time. is greater
than 10 mins and coverage of the public transport
network is also not evenly distributed.
 Paper No. 674
Parking Analysis indicates that though there is
no shortage of parking space presently, but faces
a major issue of its mismanagement. The Parking
Index in major commercial area i.e. at (Info city),
administrative area (Sector 11) is observed to be
23.1 % coupled with 14.1% with Parking Turn-over.
4. BASE YEAR TRAVEL DEMAND
ESTIMATION
The Base Year Trips in the study area5 are estimated
to be 2,79,223. The mode-wise trips recorded
during the surveys are estimated to be with respect
to Cars with 23%, Two-Wheeler (2W) with 52%,
Auto Rickshaw with 8% and Public Transport (PT)
with 17%.The average trip length(ATL) and per
capita trip rate (PCTR) works out to be 3.19 km
and 1.14 respectively.
Thus, the base year data is used to develop trip
production and attraction models for the estimation
of horizon year trip estimation and an attempt was
further made to develop utility functions and build
abstract logit models so as to include proposed
modes for predicting the horizon year modal split.
The following presents summery of travel demand
modeling exercise.
4.1 Trip Generation Model:
Trip production equation has been developed
using regression analysis considering trips as
dependent variable & population as independent
variable. A linear equation is developed as Trips
Produced, Y=1.14* Population + 157.3, which is
also statistically tested with2 as 0.75. Further, PCTR
which is 1.14 is close to coefficient of population
predicted for trip production. Additional to
production model different purpose wise models
are also generated. Similarly, trip attraction
model is developed considering employment in
each zone for different activities as independent
variables. Total employment in each zone has
been determined on the basis of trip attraction
rate for each zone for different land uses which is
estimated from primary survey and later applied
to total built-up areas in order to find out total
zone wise attractions. Finally, regression analysis is
carried out between employees/establishment for
different land uses & total attractions an equation
was derived as Trip attractions.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 31
Y=0.38*PSP Employment +4.35* Commercial
Employment +15.95* Recreational Employment
+50.37* Terminal Employment + 3285.24.
By using above models, base year trip ends are
predicted as 2,79,223.
4.2 Trip Distribution Model:
For validation, comparison of purpose wise
observed & estimated travel demand for base year
is carried out. The percentage difference ranges
from 5% (HBE), 8% (HBW) which are within
the acceptable limits but the 19% percentage
difference wrt (HBO) could not be brought closure
to acceptable range due to constraint in the sample
size. Overall difference is 1.9% only which is
reasonable indicating model to replicate observed
travel demand. In this case, doubly constrained
gravity model was used. The necessary inputs
includes balanced Trip Ends, Impedance matrix,
& friction factor. For the purpose of validation
of Trip distribution model, it has been carried
out to ensure that difference between observed &
simulated model is minimal. Difference between
two ATL is computed to be 1.3%, which is within
acceptable limit of 3%. Observed average travel
time & distance were 7.4 minutes & 3.53 km,
while from calibrated model was 7.53 minutes &
3.94 km respectively. Figures indicate the ability
of trip distribution model to replicate observed
distribution of demand.
4.3 Model Split Model:
Existing modal split for PT & IPT works out about
25%, while private vehicles constitute about 75%.
However, since metro is already proposed in
the study area, an abstract logit model has been
developed using NLOGIT from base year data so as
to predict the horizon year modal split which has an
advantage of predicting utility equation of any new
mode which needs to be incorporated for future
as in this case. Variables considered for predicting
modal split are Income, Travel time, Travel Cost &
Frequency, the coefficients & statistical figures are
presented in Table-1.
Utility equations derived are used to calculate
probability for different modes to be used for travel.
For purpose of using the model for horizon year,
it has been validated by comparing estimated &
 Paper No. 674

Table 1. Abstract Logit Model Output

observed mode split. The estimated share for cars
was 21.3% (observed 23%); 2W- 46.8% (observed
52%); Auto -11.3% (observed 8%); & PT – 20.6%
(observed 17%). It can be seen that the mode wise
differences is insignificant, thus demonstrating
confidence to predict future travel pattern.
4.4 Trip Assignment Model
Assignment is carried out for Private, Public
& Goods vehicles with respect to routes of the
modes specified. Mode wise distributed matrix
is generated using above mentioned modal split
& then converted it to peak hour magnitude
considering 9.1% peak hour share. This mode wise
peak hour PCU matrix & network file are used
to generate personalized & PT assigned network
resulting in overall passenger trips assignment for
2016. Similarly, goods peak hour PCU matrix for
2016 is assigned on the goods network resulting to
an overall assignment for the network 2016. Fig. 1
shows total PCU trips assignment for base year-
2016.

Fig. 1 Total Peak hour PCU Trips Assignment, Base Year-2016

32 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 674

5. FORECASTED TRAVELDEMAND -2036

Horizon year trip ends projected using trip
generation equations are of the order of 20,13,175,
with an estimated ATL of 4.61 km. Examining
the preferred scenarios for establishing long term
strategies & further working on short & medium
transportation strategies, transport network
analysis has been carried out. The trip ends are
distributed and the passenger matrix is assigned
on network & the ability of transport network to
carry these transport flows have been quantified
on basis of PHPDT. Estimated flows indicate that
optimization of existing system alone along with at
more acceptable passenger loading standards will
not satisfy demand expected on the corridors in
the horizon years. The need for BRTS is identified3
in the area since the PHPDT happens to be more
than 4000 for certain travel corridors. Further, a
need for alternative transport like PRT is identified
either as transitional or feeder mode to serve Legend
vitcos Bus Route

stations to BRTS & higher density development gsrtc Bus Route

Proposed BRT Route

nodes that generate travel demand, which exceeds Proposed MRT Route
Proposed PRT Route

capacity of buses in, mixed traffic condition. PRT

offering similar traits than cars like privacy, ability
to choose one’s schedule, quicker transportation
can enhance the sustainability of development
in Gandhi Nagar. Fig. 2 below shows the best
alternative transport plan after having evaluated a
number of alternative plans.
Since MRTS is already proposed, the extent of shift
to PRT, MRTS and Metro from each of the existing
modes in Gandhi Nagar have been predicted using
Abstract Logit Model. Variables like Income,
Travel time, Travel Cost and Frequency have been
given as input along with a willingness to use smart
card. The utility functions, percentage shift to PRT,
MRTS and BRTS from each mode and estimated
travel demand have been presented in the Table 2.
Two scenarios have been considered as presented
under:
Scenario-1: Base network+ Proposed MRTS +
BRTS + PRT + Organized Bus System and Feeder
connectivity.
Scenario-2: Base network+ Proposed MRTS +
BRTS + PRT + Organized Bus System & Feeder
connectivity+ Common Ticketing Card
Fig. 2 Proposed Transport System
For Scenario-2 it is assumed that there would be
reduction of 10 % travel cost for all public transport
users and the application of mobility card would
also the reduce travel time (savings in transaction
time and waiting time) for different modes as
discussed below.
An independent study7 carried out at New Delhi
and Chandni Chowk Metro stations, Delhi in 2015
shows that the average transaction time taken by
cash users is 18 sec (if including waiting time is 414
sec) as opposed to smart card users which is likely
to take 4 sec. Similarly for bus users, the average
transaction time taken by cash users is 15 sec
(including waiting time is 138 sec). Since, there is
no smart card system for buses at present in vogue,
a value of 4.5 sec has been considered for card users.
Considering the above reduction in travel time and
travel cost for public transport users, the modal
split in terms percentage has been estimated for
scenarios including common ticketing in Table-2
presented below.

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 33

 Paper No. 674
Table 2. Estimated Travel Demand
In terms of absolute number of trips estimated to
shift to PRT, the highest number is observed to
be from bus trips (7,16,690) followed by from 2
motorized Wheeler trips (5,11,7346).
Selecting above strategies, the framing of short,
medium and long term plans are important and
integral part of preparing any mobility plan as
discussed above. However, the success of any
mobility plan lies on how efficiently its operation
and management is carried out at relatively modest
costs. Thus, ITS as an instrument can help achieve
desired goals, e.g. to save costs, to save time along
with to reduce emissions etc. since it offers the
highest potential for accruing benefits in urban
areas.
6. APPLICATION OF ITS
The strategies discussed clearly identify
transit improvement for its long-term goal of
sustainability, but it is mostly likely to grapple
with ways to increase its transit ridership if it is
not effectively operated and managed. This job of
management of traffic can be addressed using ITS,
which though being very intricate may not find
much applicability immediately in Indian traffic
conditions but holds promise for a sustainable
and balanced transportation solution by achieving
modal shift to sustainable modes. As the promotion
of ITS also acts as a catalyst to improve transit
ridership, it is therefore imperative to promote ITS
for making smart transportation system not only
to improve public transport system in general but
sustainable development in particular.
34 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
Some of the smart city technological solutions
needs to be designed and implemented for
transportation in Gandhi Nagar as listed below.
This list is not completely exhaustive but can be
expanded to meet specific requirements in Gandhi
Nagar that might emerge after undertaking spatial
planning.
i. Smart Common Transport Cards: Ideally
smart cards7 link multiple forms of transport
and make it more convenient to use, and
transport authorities to understand mobility
patterns.
ii. Real Time Transport Information4,7:
Providing basis for mobile applications for
planning any journey
iii. Real Time Transport Displays: Providing
visibility to users and encouraging uptake of
public transportation
iv. Consolidated Parking Management
Technology using GIS and remote sensing
v. Transport Management Control Center:
Operating and managing overall traffic by
collecting traffic information from the Bus
Management System, other vehicle users,
the unmanned surveillance system and
traffic-related authorities and institutions
such as Traffic Broadcasting, Traffic signal
controller, Police Agency.
These technological requirements need to be
procured, developed and shared either among
different smart cities or developed cities for use
in Gandhi Nagar. The section below discusses the
 Paper No. 674
economic and financial evaluation of different
ITS components and proposed systems that are
proposed to be included for smarter mobility in
Gandhi Nagar.
6.1 Integrated Fare Collection System
One of the major bottlenecks in promoting the
use of public transport is its lack of seamless
connectivity. Thus, providing smart card
ticketing for PRT, Metro and Bus users, it can be
a step towards achieving a fully integrated public
transport system, whose success can be further
enhanced and positive synergy effects can be
achieved by offering wide range of other services
such as parking payments, toll payments etc.;
providing discounted fare for different category
of passengers like concessionary tickets, tourist
passes; installing security monitoring systems
to avoid machines from vandalism and good
promotional and marketing strategy.
This system will provide convenience to commuters
with differentiated needs by automatic ticketing,
facilitate service connectivity with other transport
modes and support utilization of existing capacity
efficiently and add value to the proposed public
transport systems.
A study 6 carried out at New Delhi and Chandni
Chowk Metro stations, Delhi in 2015 shows that
the average transaction time taken by cash users
is 18  sec (if including waiting time is 414 sec)
as opposed to smart card users which is 4 sec.
Similarly, for bus users the average transaction
time taken by cash users is 15 sec (if including
waiting time is 138 sec). Since, there is no smart
card system for buses at present, thus a value of 4.5
sec has been considered for card users from the
literatures for calculating the economic savings.
6.2 Real Time Information
Reliability of the service adversely affects ridership
as can be seen in Gandhi Nagar, where despite
having facilities & comfort offered by GSRTC
which is superior than VITCOS, it attracts less
ridership since it lags behind in terms of reliability
& frequency. Thus, it is essential to appreciate the
value of time of the users who will be using that
service. If reliability of public transport service
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 35
is not possible to adhere to, people might shift to
other private modes which in long run would be
a serious concern. Hence, in future to encourage
more people to use public transport, the promotion
of Real Time Information5 is a must.
Further for better performances of the proposed
systems, it should be mandatory to monitor the
movement of buses in real time basis and hence
implementation of one such technology i.e.
Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) can be looked
into which can monitor the location of buses in
real time using GPS or other location-monitoring
methods. This technology4,5 offers several benefits
associated with it like improving system control,
improving bus safety in an emergency condition
by showing vehicle location, improving quality
of service by notifying the location of buses, for
providing better bus scheduling, reducing need of
voice communications and hence can be thought
of implementing in BRTS for Gandhi Nagar. In the
foreseeable future, a Traffic Signal Priority (TSP)
for buses is also envisaged that can keep buses on
schedule and improve on-time performance.
6.3 Speed Detection Cameras and Red Light
Violation Detection Cameras
Another concern that is observed over the years
is the increasing trend of fatal road crashes in
Gandhi Nagar. There are several reasons not just
related to increase in population and vehicle
ownership but also casual approach in observing
in driving rules, adhering to safety precautions
and regulations, rush and negligent driving, poor
road geometry, encroachments on footpaths
and sidewalks compelling pedestrians to clog on
road that result in the victim of road accidents.
Hence there is a need for looking at smarter ways
of increasing the safety by not just increasing
the road widths and providing Foot Over Bridge
(FoB) as a solution or police to handle manually.
As despite having Foot over bridge or subway,
persons prefer to crossing the road by taking own
risk. Hence various smarter strategies looking
into the safety of drivers and pedestrians can be
thought of adopting or resorting to installing
Speed Detection Cameras and Red Light Violation
Detection Cameras, which can reduce traffic
 Paper No. 674

speeds & road crashes, and help to reduce injury
and severity. Based on the review of literature8,
it is evident that the reduction of crash rate by
25 per cent is observed on enforced network
when the reduction of speed is in the range of
5-10 km/hr.
7. FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY:
The following assumptions were made in order to
carry out financial feasibilty study
• Concession Period: 30 years (2018 - 2027)
• Construction period: 2 years (2018 - 2019)
• Operation starts: 2020
• Inflation rate: 7% per annum
• Government Contribution: 40% of Total
Cost
• Debt equity ratio: 2:1 (Bank loan 66.67% /
Investor 33.33%)
• Interest Rate: 16%
• Tax Rate: 30%
• Tax benefit: tax free profit for the first 5
years
Based on these assumptions, the Benefit - Cost
analysis is carried out for PRT, BRTS, Common
Ticketing Card and Other ITS Components
involved. Table 3 presents the breakdown of the
capital cost and the Operation and Maintenance
(O&M), Cost for the proposed systems and ITS
components. Total capital cost is broken into
two years i.e. 2018-2019 (50% each) for taking
into consideration in its landed project cost
calculation.

Table 3. Breakdown of Cost Components

36 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Paper No. 674
Table 4. Cash Flow Statement
The financial feasibility of the project is carried out
in two scenarios:
i. Without viability gap funding(VGF)
ii. With 40% VGF
The Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR)is
observed to be 8.64% without VGF, and FIRR of
17.6% (before taxes) and 14.9% (after taxes) with
40% VGF. Table-4 below shows the cash flow
statement.
8. CONCLUSIONS
After having conducted four stage travel demand
modeling exercise with Abstract Mode Choice
Modeling to estimate likely passengers to switch
over to public transport system, this study
concludes that The financial feasibility of the
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 37
project carried out in two scenarios: with respect to
i) Without Viability Gap Funding (VGF) ii) With
40% VGF amply reflects the viability of the ITS base
transport system with financial Internal Rate of
Return (FIRR) observed to be 8.64% without VGF,
and FIRR of 17.6% (before taxes) and 14.9% (after
taxes) with 40% VGF. The study also highlights
that the use of ITS technology along with smart
mobility card not only enhances the use of public
transportation but also can be a source of additional
revenue, thus making the project more financially
sustainable. From the recent study in Delhi,7 it
is concluded that average transaction time for
purchasing paper ticket on buses is 15 sec (138 sec
including waiting time) against 4.5 sec for card
users and average transaction time for purchasing
ticket on metro is 18 sec (414 sec including waiting
 Paper No. 674

time) against 4 sec for card users. Incorporating
these savings in travel time and further assuming
cost reduction by 10% for card, user’s utility model
is developed, which estimated that the ridership
of public transport would be further enhanced by
5.7%. The study outcomes can be incorporated in
planning transport systems across various Smart
Cities. Further, implementing such projects across
the cities would definitely have a positive effect on
behavioral changes of users and also would also
aid in support development and attraction of the
cities.
Acknowledgement:
The authors wish to acknowledge the students and
faculty for the help and cooperation rendered for
the conduct of Transport Studies at Gandhi Nagar
as well as at Delhi in the Department of Transport
Planning at the School Planning and Architecture,
New Delhi during the year 2016.
REFERENCES
1 Praparation of Transportation Plan for Gandhi
Nagar Smart City, Report by the Department
of Transport Planning, School of Planning
Architecture, 2016
2 Master Plan–Gandhinagar (2024), Jhnujunu
(2031), Mehsana
3 Preparation of Comprehensive Mobility Plan for
Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat
4 Singh,B. and Gupta,A. (2013), “Advancements in
Intelligent Transport Systems: A Review”, Proc.,
of International Conference on Advance Trends
in Engineering and Technology, ICATET-2013,
Jaipur, India, pp. 375-383
5 Singh B. Gupta, A. and Suman, S.(2015),
“Framework for Development of Advanced
Traveller Information System: A Case Study
of Chandigarh City”, Urban Transport Journal,
India, ISSN 2394-3238
6 Development Transport Development Policy
Committee (NTDPC)-Working Group Report on
Urban Transport, 2012, MoUD, Govt of India
7. Verma, N “Development of Integrated Smart
Card in Public transport Planning”, unpublished
thesis submitted for the partial fulfillment
of Master of Transport Planning Degree at,
SPA,2015-16
8. Jadav, S “Enhancing Safety of Road User through
Intelligent Transport System”, Unpublished Thesis,
Department of Transport Planning, School of
Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, 2015

NEW/REVISED PUBLICATIONS OF IRC in 2018

The IRC has brought out the following New/Revised Publications. These prestigious publications will be quite
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Title of the Document Price Packing & Postage

IRC:SP:65-2018 “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Segmental Bridges” 400.00 20.00
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IRC:SP:71-2018 “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Precast Pre-Tensioned 400.00 20.00
Girders for Bridges” (First Revision)
IRC:SP:89-2018 Part II: “Guidelines for the Design of Stabilized Pavements” 800.00 20.00
IRC:SP:113-2018 “Guidelines on Flood Disaster Mitigation for Highway Engineers” 800.00 40.00
IRC:SP:114-2018 “Guidelines for Seismic Design for Road Bridges” 1000.00 40.00
IRC:SP:115-2018 “Guidelines for Design of Integral Bridges” 500.00 20.00
IRC:SP:116-2018 “Guidelines for Design and Installation of Gabion Structure” 600.00 20.00
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(First Revision)
Copies of these publications can be obtained from IRC Office against cash payment. For more details please contact
+ 91 11 2338 7759 and E-mail: ircsale1934@gmail.com

38 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

Information
Section
 Significance of Risk Management in Highway Projects

Dr. Indrasen Singh1

ABSTRACT
Public Private Partnership (PPP) is well accepted alternative to develop roads and highway
infrastructure development, where the government and private partner jointly contribute towards
the construction of new facility or up gradation and maintenance of existing facility. Cost savings,
risk reduction and improved performance are the aim of such partnerships. There are various
project delivery models in Public Private Partnership (PPP) which are well recognized worldwide.
The selection of right project delivery model contributes an added advantage to time and cost
savings and risk is reduced to a considerable extent.
The projects undertaken by PPP route are either partly or wholly financed by debt leveraging
revenue streams dedicated with the projects. Since such projects consume a long duration to
complete and even more the financial recovery may take 20 years or more depending on the scale
of the project.
The study focuses on the comparison of risk identification, assessment and allocation of two such
modes of PPP namely BOOT and DBFOT. The cases of successfully completed projects executed
through both the project delivery modes have been identified for an in-depth analysis and
representation of the risks involved. A questionnaire was prepared consisting of comprehensive
identification of the various risk factors involved in such projects. The questionnaire was floated
across the various industry experts, academicians and professionals to identify the severity and
probability of the identified risk factors. Further various risk mitigation strategies and effective
project delivery model have been suggested for successful implementation of highway projects in
the country.

1. INTRODUCTION created infrastructure used to be low because of

The importance of road sector in India cannot be
underestimated. It is one of the most important
driving factor for the economic and social
development of the nation. India with around
4,689,842 kilometers in 2017, the second largest
road network in the world. Conventionally
the central and state government used for its
construction and provide the generated facilities
to the user (public) at highly subsided rates.
The quality and efficiency of government
1
Senior Professor and Dean, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Farmagudi, Ponda Goa,
E-mail: isingh@nicmar.ac.in
bureaucratic way of working and natural apathy.
Due to highly increased expenditure on
establishment and diversion of public financial
resources towards short term, popular and
politically important gains the infrastructure
development was denied of resources. These
demand which have high capital demand and have
long gestation period, apart from highly risky
ventures, hence even private sector funding was
not forthcoming.

40 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

Thus new techniques required to develop
for attractive private sector investment in
infrastructure projects. Therefore PPP Model
comes into picture, this model has different
variants of basis on which contracts are awarded
out of them two are BOOT (Build – Own -- Operate
– Transfer) & DBFOT (Design – Build – Finance –
Operate– Transfer).
Build-Own-Operate-Transfer is a founding
model and a form of concession in which a public
authority makes an agreement with a private
company (concessionaire) to Design, Build, Own
and Operate a specific piece of an infrastructure
such as power, transport, water, and telecom
industries, within receiving the right to achieve
income from the facility under a period of time
(concession period approximately 15-25 years),
and later transferring it back into public
ownership through a single organization or
consortium (BOOT provider).
With the DBFOT approach, there are other
variations of PPP and as the nomenclatures
highlight, the private party assumes the entire
responsibility for the design, construct, finance,
operate and maintain the project for the period
of concession. These are also referred to as
“Concessions”. The project will recover its
investments through concessions granted or
through annuity payments etc. It may be noted
that most of the project risks related to the
design, financing and construction would stand
transferred to the private partner. The public sector
may provide guarantees to financing agencies,
help with the acquisition of land and assist to
obtain statutory and environmental clearances and
approvals and also assure a reasonable return as
per established norms or industry practice etc.,
throughout the period of concession. There is a
great deal of variety in DBFOT arrangements
& especially the degree to which financial
responsibilities are actually transferred to private
sector and have much flexibility and it can be
dealt such as segments of this approach. This
approach gives the private partner a great degree of
flexibility and room for innovation. One
commonality that cuts across all DBFOT projects
is that they are either partly or wholly financed by
debt leveraging revenue streams dedicated with the
projects. Direct User Fees (Tolls) are most common
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 41
revenue source. Future revenue are leveraged to
issue bonds or other debt that provide funds for
capital and project development costs, they are
often supplemented by public sector grants in the
form of money or contributions in kind, such as
right of way.
2. Objectives of Study
The objectives of the study are:
● To study the various risks involved in
Infrastructure BOOT and DBFOT projects
(Highway sector) by studying the concession
agreement and assessment of risks involved
in them.
● To carry out a comparative analysis of risks
prevailing in difference phases of BOOT
and DBFOT models.
● Toimprovise on the structure of the
favorable project delivery models to avoid
the risks involved in BOOT and DBFOT
highway projects.
3. SHIFTS FROM TRADITIONAL BOT TO
OTHER MODEL (BOOT, DBFOT)
Nowaday, the major hurdle in any infrastructure
project is to choose the correct method and most
feasible model for the implementation of project
across the world. It is evident from research and
experience that selection of best project delivery
system can reduce project cost and time up to
twelve to thirty percent. Therefore, the selection
of appropriate model for project implementation
is the most important strategic decision which
is conducted at the end of feasibility study and
coincident with making decisions about project’s
financial provisions.( Crockford, Neil. 1988).
Project delivery system is a generic term which
defines the method of organization of design,
procurement, and construction services of project
along with the operation, commissioning, and
maintenance which can be implemented by owner
or other parties in contractual binding. In other
words, project delivery system regulates sequence
of project’s processes, contractual relationships,
and area of obligations and commitments of
different parties within a contract.
3.1 Build, Operate and Transfer
In the BOT approach, a private party or
concessionaire retains a concession for a fixed
period from a public party, called principal (client),
for the development and operation of a public
facility. The development consists of the financing,
design and construction of the facility, managing
and maintaining the facility adequately, and
making it sufficiently profitable. The
concessionaire secures return of investment by
operating the facility and, during the concession
period, the concessionaire acts as owner. At the
end of the concession period, the concessionaire
transfers the ownership of the facility free of
liens to the principal at no cost (Verhoeven,
L 1997). BOT projects are very useful
in bidding situations. By implementing
these methodologies, the company or the
government can share the risk of the project
(Valencia, L, 1997).
3.2 Build, Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT)
There are many factors that make BOOT
attractive and suitable for governments as a project
delivery method includes stable political system,
predictable and proven legal system, government
support for a project that is also clearly in the
public interest, Long term demand, limited
competition, reasonable profits, good cash flows,
predictable risk scenarios.
Build-Own-Operate-Transfer is a founding model
and a form of concession in which a public
authority makes an agreement with a private
company (concessionaire) to Design Build, Own
and Operate a specific piece of an infrastructure
such as power, transport, water, and telecom
industries, within receiving the right to achieve
income from the facility under a period of time
(concession period approximately 15-25 years),
and later transferring it back into public
ownership through a single organization or
consortium (Arndt. H. R, 1999).
The objectives of BOOT’ s participants including
Government, Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV),
the Contractor, the Lenders, the Operator, and
the Sponsors are reducing the capital expenses
and government s role in build, operation and
maintenance of infrastructures, making new jobs
for unemployed citizens and accountable
atmosphere for a reliable and appropriate quality,
providing opportunities for a comparative or
competitive climate and a sympathetic cost benefit
for both parties, introducing innovative and
alternative technology.
42 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
3.3 Design, Build, Finance, Operate and
Transfer (DBFOT)
Design–Build–Finance–Operate and Transfer is
a project delivery method very similar to BOOT.
Moreover, the contractor assumes the risk of
financing till the end of the contract period.
The owner then assumes the responsibility for
maintenance and operation. Some disadvantages
of DBFOT are the difficulty with long term
relationships and the threat of possible future
political changes which may not agree with
prior commitments. This model is extensively
used in specific infrastructure projects such as
toll roads. The private construction company is
responsible for the design and construction of a
piece of infrastructure for the government, which
is the true owner. Moreover the private entity
has the responsibility to raise finance during the
construction and the exploitation period. The cash
flows serve to repay the investment and reward its
shareholders. They end up in form of periodical
payment to the government for the use of the
infrastructure. The government has the advantage
that it remains the owner of the facility and at the
same time avoids direct payment from the users.
Additionally, the government succeeds to avoid
getting into debt and to spread out the cost for the
road over the years of exploitation.
4. RISK MANAGEMENT
‘Risk’ as per Webster’s dictionary, is defined
as the possibility of injury, loss, destruction, or
disadvantage. From a PPP project standpoint, the
realization of different risks over the lifecycle of
the project can create different situations where
the return from a project, project time and costs
can vary drastically from the assumptions taken
at the starting of project. A risk may have one or
more causes to occur and, if it occurs, it may have
many impacts. A cause may be a given or potential
requirement, constraints, condition or assumption
that generates the likelihood of positive or negative
consequences. Positive and negative risks are
commonly referred to as opportunities and threats.
The project may be accepted if the risk are within
tolerable limits and are in balance with the profit
that may be gained by taking the risks. Positive
risk that offers opportunities within the limits of
risk tolerances may be pursued in order to produce
enhanced value.
Identification, assessment and management of
the risks associated with the project that can
threaten the viability of project and the capability
of project to provide sufficient returns to service
the debt obligations and earn return on equity
investments have been of paramount importance
in infrastructure projects through PPP route.
Risk management is increasingly recognized as
being concerned with both positive and negative
aspects of risk (Yadav, pramodkumar etal, 2012).
The risk management process is shown in Fig. 1.
[Source: Risk management standard; Published by
AIRMIC, ALARM, IRM: 2002]
Fig. 1 Risk Management Process
Table 1 Different Risk Categories Along Various Phases of Project
5. RISK ANALYSIS
5.1 Types of Risks in PPP Projects
A list of the main risk resources should be
compiled for the decision- maker to assess the
possible outcomes of uncertainty inherent in
projects.
There are four main time frames of any
infrastructure project viz. development,
construction, operation phase and project life
cycle phase. In each phase, each risk associated
with it are different from the other, therefore
different measures should be taken. As the risk
associated with both models BOOT & DBFOT are
common, only the obligations to the Employer/
Government are different.
In BOOT projects, the Private sector designs
and builds an asset and then transfers it to the
government. The private sector may also operate
it and then transfer it to the government when
operating contract ends. The private partner may
subsequently rent or lease the asset from the
government for a specific period.
While in DBFOT projects, the private sector
designs, builds, finance, operates and manages
as asset with no obligation to the government.
Table 1 summarizes the risks associated with
BOOT & DBFOT by the different phases of the
project.

Project Phase Risk Code Risk Category

DRC.1 Pre-investment risk
DRC.2 Resettlement and Rehabilitation risk
Developmental Phase
DRC.3 Delay in land acquisition
(DRC)
DRC.4 Permit / Approval risk
DRC.5 Delay in financial closure
CRC.1 Technology risk
Construction Phase CRC.2 Design and latent defect risk
(CRC) CRC.3 Completion risk
CRC.4 Cost overrun risk
ORC.1 Traffic revenue risk
Operation Phase ORC.2 Operation risk
(ORC) ORC.3 Demand risk
ORC.4 Debt servicing risk

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 43

 Project Phase Risk Code
PRC.1
PRC.2
Project Life Cycle PRC.3
(PRC) PRC.4
PRC.5
PRC.6
6. CASE STUDY I
6.1 Project Description
The Vadodara Halol Toll Road (VHTR) was the
flagship project by the Gujarat government for
fulfilling its Vision 2010 an infrastructure master
plan, which consequently paved way for similar
projects being undertaken by the governments
in the rest of India. It was first of its kind project
for widening of a state highway undertaken in the
PPP mode. The underlying principle of the vision
was to develop infrastructure projects in Gujarat
by attracting private sector participation. The
project involved broadening and strengthening of
32 kilometres of the existing two-lane State
Table 2 Project Details of Vadodara Halol Toll Road
Risk Category
Legal risk
Political risk (direct and indirect)
Partnering risk
Regulatory risk
Financial risk
Environmental risk
Highway (SH 87) connecting Vadodara to the
industrial town of Halol into a four-lane tolled
expressway. The Government of Gujarat (GoG) took
the initiative of forming a Special Purpose Vehicle
(SPV) for this purpose and named it as the Vadodara
Halol Toll Road Company Limited (VHTRL). It
was a company promoted by the Government of
Gujarat for developing and implementing Vadodara
Halol Road Project under Built, Own, Operate
and Transfer (BOOT) method. VHTRL employed
a contractor, through international competitive
bidding, for the construction, operation and
maintenance of the project.
The details of Vadodara-Halal Toll road are given
in Table 2.

Particulars
Title of the Project Vadodara Halol Toll Road (VHTR) SH 87 on BOOT Basis.
Client Vadodara Halol Toll Road Company Limited (VHTRL) was promoted
by Government of Gujarat (GoG) and Infrastructure Leasing &
Financial Services (IL&FS)
Project Length 32.00 km
Concessionaire M/S Vadodara Halol Toll Road Company Limited now merged to
Gujarat Road and Infrastructure Company Limited
Independent Consultants Frischmann & Prabhu (India) Private Limited.
Project Engineer M/s Lea Associates South Asia Private Limited
Contractor Joint Venture of M/s Punj Lloyd Ltd. and M/s IRCON International
Date of Concession Agreement 15th October, 1995
Concession Period 30 Years (Excluding construction period of 18 months)
Commercial Operation Date 24th October, 2000 4 months before schedule.
6.2 PPP Structure of the Project VHTRL later appointed a consortium of Punj
The VHTR project was developed under the Lloyd Limited and IRCON International Limited
Built, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis. as contractors to construct, operate and maintain
For the purpose of successfully executing the the project. The contractors were also given an
project VHTRL was created as an SPV. VHTRL equity stake in VHTRL.
was promoted by the GoG and IL&FS. It arrived
6.3 Risk Allocation Framework
into a concession agreement with GoG to design,
finance, build, operate, maintain, and transfer the The risk allocation framework is shown in
facility after recovery of a predetermined return. Table 3.

44 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Table 3 Showing Allocation of Various Types of Risks in of Vadodara Halol Toll Road Project
S. Risk Type Sensitivity Primary Risk Comments
No. Bearer
1. Delays in land High Government Land Acquisition and provision of vacant
acquisition possession to the concessionaire was a condition
precedent under the agreement. Failure to do so
implied an extension of the period for fulfillment
of Conditions Precedent. In case of persisted
non-performance, the concessionaire had a right
to terminate the agreement.
2. Delays in High Private While the Government had to facilitate approvals
Obtaining Developer and permits, it was the private developer’s
Permits responsibility to obtain the same.
3. Design Risk High Private The Contractor needs to adhere to the performance
Developer standards and technical specifications. The
(transferred to contractor would need to bear any additional
Contractor) costs due to rectification of construction due to
non-compliance with the technical specifications.
4. Inflation Risk Medium Private Borne by the Concessionaire but this is transferred
Developer to the contractor due to the fixed price nature of
(transferred to the contract.
contractor)
5. Revenue/ Low Private Revenue risk on account of a shortfall in traffic
Demand Risk Developer/ projections is borne by the Private Developer.
Government However, additional revenue streams in the
form of development rights also possible at the
discretion of the GoG. In case the developer is
unable to recover the total cost, including a return,
there is a provision to extend the Concession
period for 2 years (beyond the stipulated period
of 30 years.) i.e. the concession period is a rolling
period and is extendable in tranches of 2 years
until the concessionaire is able to recover the
investments made and a 20% return thereon. In
case the traffic demand picks up, the incremental
revenue generation thus achieved would accrue
to the concessionaire alone.
6. Construction High Private The complete construction was to be
Risk Developer accomplished within 18 months. The increase in
(transferred to project cost due to any delay had to be absorbed
contractor) by the Concessionaire. This was transferred to
the contractor due to the fixed cost nature of the
contract.
7. Financial Risk High Private Any increase in the projected capital cost was
Developer to be borne by the private developer. However,
the developer was protected, in situations where
the increase was beyond its control, with the
provision for extending the concession period till
a 20% return was achieved.

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 45

S. Risk Type Sensitivity Primary Risk Comments
No. Bearer
8. Force Majeure Low Private Comprehensive insurance coverage and a
Developer temporary toll review provision to mitigate loss
of revenue for a short period of time due to Force
Majeure.
9. Political Risk Low Government Comprehensive insurance package and GoG to at
least pay compensation to meet all project costs
including takeout of lenders and other investors.
7. CASE STUDY II Italian motorway builder and operator Atlantia.
7.1 Project Description Pune-Solapur Expressways (PSEPL) was created
as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the
The National Highway 9 (NH 9) is a major
enforcement of the contract.
national highway in India, traversing the states
of Maharashtra in the west and Karnataka and 7.2 PPP Structure of the Project
Andhra Pradesh in the south. Starting from Pune The project was awarded on a Design, Build,
in Maharashtra, the highway extends for 841 km Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
and ends at Machilipatnam. NH 9 covers 336 km An agreement was signed between the National
in Maharashtra, 75 km in Karnataka and 430 km in Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Pune
Andhra Pradesh. Solapur Expressway Pvt. Ltd (PSEPL). PSEPL
Under the National Highways Development was formed as a consortium of TRIL Roads Private
Project (NHDP) Phase-3 NH 9 upgradation and Limited and Auto strade Indian Infrastructure
improvement activities took place. The NH 9 up Development Private Limited. The responsibilities
gradation is to be carried out in different sections: included implementing and operating the project
Pune to Solapur, Solapur to Hyderabad, Hyderabad involving 4-laning of the existing 2-lane Pune-
to Vijayawada and Vijayawada to Machilipatnam. Solapur section of NH-65 (earlier NH-9) from
The Pune-Solapur section is further divided into 40.00 km to 144.40 km and construction of
two packages namely, package one and package Indapur bypass in the State of Maharashtra
two. (total length: 110 km). TRIL had awarded the
The package under consideration as a case study construction sub-contract to IJM Infrastructure
is the package one i.e. a Rs. 14 billion contract India and Oriental Structural Engineers. The
to turn the 110 Km the Pune-Solapur section into funds worth Rs. 13.7 billion was secured by
four lanes. It was awarded to Tata Realty and TRIL and PSEPL had raised Rs. 9.6 billion
Infrastructure Limited’s (TRIL) joint venture of its from financial institutions. The details of Pune-
wholly-owned subsidiary Navinya Buildcon and Solpaur expressway are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Project Summary of Pune Solapur Expressway

Particulars
Title of the Project Design, Engineering, Construction, Development, Finance, Operation
And Maintenance of 4 Laning The Existing 2 Lane Section From Km.
40 + 000 to km.144 + 400 (NH 9) On DBFOT Basis.
Client M/S National Highways Authority of India
Project Length 110.200 km
Concessionaire M/S Pune Solapur Expressway Private Limited
Independent Consultants M/S Renardet S.A.
Project Management TRIL Roads Pvt. Ltd. With Egis India Consulting Engineers Pvt.
Consultant Limited, Hyderabad.

46 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Design Consultant Consulting Engineers Group, Jaipur.
Contractor IJM Infrastructure India and Oriental Structural Engineers
Date of Concession 19th May 2009
Agreement
Concession Period 21 Years (Including construction period of 30 months)
Commercial 12th May 2012 but extended to 12th February 2013.
Operation Date
7.3 Risk Allocation Framework
The risk allocation framework is shown in Table 5.
Table 5 Showing Allocation of Various Types of Risks in Pune Solapur Expressway

S. No. Risk Type Sensitivity Primary Risk Comments

Bearer
1. Delays in Land High Government Land acquisition and delivery of vacant possession
acquisition to the concessionaire was a condition precedent in
the contract. Failing which implied an extension of
the period for fulfilment of conditions precedent.
In case of major delays, the concessionaire had a
right to terminate the agreement.
2. Delays in High Private Developer The Maharashtra Government had to facilitate
Obtaining approvals and permits. It was the private
Permits developer’s responsibility to obtain the same.
3. Design Risk High Private Developer The contractor should adhere to the standards and
specification. It needs to bear any additional costs
due to rectification of construction due to non-
compliance with the technical specifications.
4. Inflation Risk Medium Private Developer The concessionaire bears the risk but this is
(transferred to transferred to the contractor due to the EPC nature
contractor) of the contract.
5. Revenue/ Low Private Developer Revenue risk on account of a delays in completion
Demand Risk /Government is borne by the Private Developer. The concession
period is a rolling period and is extendable in
phases of 2 years until the concessionaire is able
to recover. In event the traffic demand picks up,
the incremental revenue generation thus achieved
would accrue to the concessionaire alone. The
concession period also includes
6. Construction High Private Developer The complete construction was to be accomplished
Risk within 30 months. The increase in project cost
due to any delay had to be absorbed by the
Concessionaire.
7. Financial Risk High Private Developer Any increase in the projected capital cost was to
be borne by the private developer. The developer
was protected, in situations where the increase
was beyond its control, they could extend the
concession period.
8. Force Majeure Low Private Developer Comprehensive insurance coverage with provision
for extension of operation period.
9. Political Risk Low Government Comprehensive insurance.

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 47

7.4 Analytical Comparison
Questionnaire survey which was circulated among
industry practitioners & academicians consisted
of 21 risk categories and 171 risk factors causing
them.
Compilation of Questionnaire response: The
response of experts over the questionnaire is
compiled as following:
a) In Questionnaire the experts have been
asked to comment on the severity of risks &
probability of occurrence i.e. Severe (S), High
(H), Medium (M), Low (L), Very Low (VL)
over the various phases of project life i.e.
Development Phase (DRC), Construction
Phase (CRC), Operation Phase (ORC),
Project Life Cycle Phase (PRC) and
Termination phase (TRC).
Table 6 Total Risk Assessment Along Various Risk Categories in BOOT Model
b) Final rating was done based upon the
responses for both severity & probability
of occurrence of risks. The rating for
probability of occurrence was then
normalized to get the probability for risk
categories.
c) Weight age of the impact considered for
study for severe impact (S=10), High
impact (H=8), Medium impact (M=6),
Low impact (L=4), Very Low impact
(VL=2).
These risk categories have been considered for
risk assessment (refer Tables 6 & 7). Tables 6 & 7
show the total risk assessment for the both project
delivery models viz. BOOT & DBFOT.

Risk Code Risk Probability of Severity of Total Risk

Occurrence (P) Risk (R) (P x R)
DRC.1 Pre-investment risk 0.042 6.56 0.28
DRC.2 Resettlement and Rehabilitation risk 0.047 6.81 0.32
DRC.3 Delay in land acquisition 0.047 6.60 0.31
DRC.4 Permit / Approval risk 0.055 7.09 0.39
DRC.5 Delay in financial closure 0.045 6.40 0.29
CRC.1 Technology risk 0.044 6.66 0.29
CRC.2 Design and latent defect risk 0.045 6.10 0.28
CRC.3 Completion risk 0.049 6.52 0.32
CRC.4 Cost overrun risk 0.044 6.08 0.27
ORC.1 Traffic revenue risk 0.044 5.97 0.26
ORC.2 Operation risk 0.049 6.49 0.32
ORC.3 Demand risk 0.039 5.45 0.21
ORC.4 Debt servicing risk 0.040 5.77 0.23
PRC.1 Legal risk 0.044 6.06 0.27
PRC.2 Political risk (direct and indirect) 0.044 5.99 0.26
PRC.3 Partnering risk 0.043 5.71 0.25
PRC.4 Regulatory risk 0.040 6.08 0.25
PRC.5 Financial risk 0.047 6.32 0.30
PRC.6 Environmental risk 0.051 7.04 0.36
PRC.7 Physical risk 0.050 6.10 0.30
TRC1 Risk of Termination 0.045 6.44 0.29
TRC2 Risk of Transfer 0.045 6.63 0.30

48 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

 Table 7 Total Risk Assessment Along Various Risk Categories in DBFOT Model

Risk Code Risk Probability of Severity of Total Risk

Occurrence (P) Risk (R) (P x R)
DRC.1 Pre-investment risk 0.045 6.7 0.3049
DRC.2 Resettlement and Rehabilitation risk 0.052 6.8 0.3518
DRC.3 Delay in land acquisition 0.053 6.6 0.3482
DRC.4 Permit / Approval risk 0.053 6.6 0.3538
DRC.5 Delay in financial closure 0.049 6.4 0.3099
CRC.1 Technology risk 0.045 6.0 0.2660
CRC.2 Design and latent defect risk 0.046 5.8 0.2648
CRC.3 Completion risk 0.048 6.3 0.3012
CRC.4 Cost overrun risk 0.045 5.9 0.2630
ORC.1 Traffic revenue risk 0.047 6.0 0.2813
ORC.2 Operation risk 0.049 6.1 0.3015
ORC.3 Demand risk 0.039 5.4 0.2103
ORC.4 Debt servicing risk 0.042 5.5 0.2324
PRC.1 Legal risk 0.042 6.0 0.2542
PRC.2 Political risk (direct and indirect) 0.042 6.4 0.2707
PRC.3 Partnering risk 0.040 7.0 0.2798
PRC.4 Regulatory risk 0.041 7.4 0.3066
PRC.5 Financial risk 0.047 6.6 0.3118
PRC.6 Environmental risk 0.048 7.4 0.3546
PRC.7 Physical risk 0.042 7.0 0.2964
TRC1 Risk of Termination 0.041 6.9 0.2828
TRC2 Risk of Transfer 0.044 6.6 0.2906

The comparison of risk categories which are

assessed for both project delivery models can be
seen in Fig. 2.
The research work also tries to illustrate the
comparison of percentage distribution of severity
of risks & probability of occurrence of those risk
factors among BOOT & DBFOT project delivery
models. Tables 8 & 9 show the data for this
distribution and Figs. 3 & 4 show the bar chart
comparison for severity & probability of
occurrence of risks in both project delivery
models.

Fig. 2 Comparisons of Risk Categories for BOOT &

DBFOT Models

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 49

 Table 8 Phase Wise Percentage Distribution Data for Severity of Risks

Phase Wise BOOT Phase Wise DBFOT Phase Wise

Percentage Percentage
Development Phase 33.5 24.10 33.1 23.43
Construction Phase 25.4 18.25 24.0 16.94
Operation Phase 23.7 17.06 23.1 16.30
Project Life Cycle Phase 43.3 31.18 47.8 33.76
Termination Phase 13.1 9.41 13.5 9.57
Total 138.9 141.5

Table 9 Phase Wise Percentage Distribution Data for Probability of Occurrence for Risks

Phase Wise BOOT Phase Wise DBFOT Phase Wise

Percentage Percentage
Development Phase 29.24 23.65 28.9 25.17
Construction Phase 22.50 18.20 21.0 18.26
Operation Phase 21.20 17.15 20.4 17.70
Project Life Cycle Phase 39.58 32.01 34.9 30.38
Termination Phase 11.13 9.00 9.8 8.48
Total 123.6415483 114.98866

This research work develops the initially identified
risk factors by reviewing the case studies of both
the BOOT and DBFOT projects. These identified
risk factors were grouped and presented as per the
percentage they represent in group various phases
of the project and the total factors were analyzed.
The risk categories which are assessed for both
project delivery models were also compared and
the comparison can be perceived from Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 Comparison of Total Risk Assessed in
Both Models
The study illustrates that the total risk borne by
the BOOT projects in highway development is
comparatively lesser than the DBFOT projects
for the developers. It is quite evident from
the case study also that the BOOT project is
running smoothly with increased revenues with
the passing years. Also it gives an edge to the
developers to develop the adjacent areas and add
up to their revenue. BOOT providers are typically
large international corporations or a specialized
consortium of private companies which includes
engineering companies, construction companies
and financiers. These private companies are very
well established in the market and also have the
reputation to ease the financial closure. But if we
compare the case of a DBFOT project the revenues
are restricted to the number of Passenger Car
Units via toll collection. The uncertainty of the
frequency of vehicles, reluctance to pay heavy
tolls, development of the demographics of the

50 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018

region, future trends of development etc. all
influence the revenue generation of the toll
ways. There is no scope for additional revenue
generation.
On the analysis of the questionnaire survey results
it has been revealed that the total risk is higher in
case of DBFOT model. The severity of risks in
the development phase, construction phase and
operation phase is higher in BOOT projects, but in
the project life cycle phase and termination phase
the risk is considerably higher for DBFOT projects
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 Phase Wise Percentage Distribution for
Severity of Risks
Correspondingly, if we consider the probability of
the risk occurrence, it is higher in case of BOOT
projects in project life cycle phase and termination
phase as compared to DBFOT projects. While the
probability of risk occurrence in the development
phase, construction phase and operation phase
for a BOOT project are comparatively lower
than in case of DBFOT projects. Thus, the major
risks considered in the Project Life Cycle phase
consisting of legal risk, political risk (direct
and indirect), partnering risk, regulatory risk,
financial risk, environmental risk and physical
risk have more occurrence probability in BOOT
projects but their severity is low as compared to
DBFOT.
As the research work shows that the severity
and probability of occurrence of the various risk
categories for both project delivery models in
development phase is very high Fig. 5. So the
proper feasibility studies should be done for the
both models, otherwise it will effect on project
delivery in terms of cost, quality & time for any
project.
The percentage for severity and probability
of occurrence of the risks in the operation &
construction is almost same. So the risks in
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 51
both the phases in both project delivery models
viz. BOOT & DBFOT, should be treated as
equally important. It should happen during post
construction while in operation phase there
should be a risk mitigation plan otherwise the
risks in operation phase will increase & will cause
trouble during termination or transfer phase. The
quality of the facility should be same as of while
operation starts for first time otherwise the whole
project delivery is affected in terms of quality and
time as it will require repairs.
Fig. 5 Phase Wise Percentage Distribution for
Probability of Occurrence for Risks
The project life cycle phase in the study consists
of the various risk categories along with various
factors causing them. These risk categories are
common between two or more phases of project
that’s why they are compiled in one so that overall
effect of these risk categories can be seen. The
effect of these risks spanning across the project
life cycle can cause ripple effects that can create
the risk in various phases, the percentage of these
risks is very high as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. So,
mitigating them is of high priority. The study
shows that reducing the risk factors in project life
cycle phase will immensely help to reduce the
overall risk.
Therefore there has been an accordance to the fact
that BOOT projects have lesser risks as compared
to the DBFOT projects both in the case study as
well as the survey opinion among the experts. The
four critical components that regulate the financial
viability of a highway project are traffic volumes,
user fee, concession period and capital costs, for
which the risks need to be identified and mitigated.
Further each capital intensive highway project
varies substantially in complexity and scope and
therefore presents unique circumstances to be
addressed in the risk management process.
8. CONCLUSION
● The phase wise analysis of the probability
of occurrence of risks and the risk severity
has given a deep insight into the acceptability
and selection of the mode of project delivery.
In view of a long concession period and
fluctuating risk profiles of BOOT and
DBFOT project delivery models it is
suggested for a shift towards BOOT mode
of road infrastructure development models.
An independent operating Special Purpose
Vehicle must be set up in collaboration of the
respective State Government, NHAI and the
Private Developer. This will result in shared
ownership and liability will lead to ease of
operations. The SPV must be an independent
body with participants from across its
stakeholder.
● The government bodies involved on the
other hand should set up an independent
regulator for the PPP road projects which
could oversee the fast changing socio
economic dynamics of the projects. It should
also suggest measures to lessen the risks
in the impending projects and could also
intervene in case of disputes in the
agreement or the SPV. The independent
regulator should be empowered to
renegotiate the terms of agreement during an
ill phase of the project and ensure successful
implementation of the project, thus creating
a conducive situation for all the
stakeholders.
● As in different parts of country risk factors
vary that affects the various project delivery
models of PPP. So Government & Research
Institutions can carry an extensive joint
research in this area that would result in
identification & implementation of more
successful & beneficial region specific
project delivery models which in return
would help in better private participation as
compared to the present scenario.
Accordingly region specific bidding
52 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
documents can be prepared to attract the
private players to invest more.
● Identification & comparison of critical
success factors along with the risk profiles
for various project delivery models of PPP
can help for successful implementation of
the same.
● As the study shows the most critical risk
categories are those which span across many
phases i.e. project life cycle phase. So an
extensive research on those risk categories
can be done to identify, assess & mitigate
them in various project delivery models of
PPP. It would help to create a standardized
risk mitigation plan for these common risk
categories.
● In case of poor revenue from toll during
operation phase there should be
identification of secondary revenue
generation models to suffice for the deficit
of revenue. This can in turn neutralize four
critical components that regulate the
financial viability of a highway project viz.
traffic volumes, user fee, concession period
and capital costs.
REFERENCES
1. Arndt, R.H. (1999), “Is Build-Own-Operate-
Transfer a Solution to Local Government’s
Infrastructure Funding Problem”? University of
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
2. Crockford, Neil (1988), “An Introduction to Risk
Management” (2nd Edition), Cambridge, U.K.
Woodhead-Faulkner, p 18 ISBNO-85941-332-2.
3. Valencia, L. “Financing Methods in Project
Management and its Relevance in Succeed of a
Project Problems”, University of Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia.
4. Verhoeven, L (1997), “BOT in Netherlands”
University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
5. Yadav, Pramod kumar, Mahapatra, Diptriranjan
and Dhawan, Divesh (2012), “Risk Analysis
Critical Assessment of Existing Models in Indian
Roads & Highway Sector”, W.P. No. 2012-05.
 DISCUSSION ON
PAPERS PUBLISHED IN
VOLUME 78 PARTS 1 & 2
 Paper discussion
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 662
“A Critical Review of Practices for Improving Ride Quality and Periodical Renewal of
Bituminous Pavements in India” by Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal and Prof. A. Veeraragavan
Comments of Shri Vikas Thakar, Consultant
The German Specifications for flexible pavement
above 32 MSA have following
120 mm (Mastic/SMA/BC)
180 mm (Dense Bituminous Mix)
Crushed Aggregate 400 MM
Your comment on the some as compared to IRC
specs where BT is generally 120 to 150 mm
thick without any bituminous base layer. Even
US spells have almost 50 mm wearing 100 to
150 binder & 100 to 150 base course.
Do we need to make bituminous base course
compulsory?
If we want to provide a bituminous base layer
below a DBM binder & BC wearing course what
layer would be recommended for high density
traffic corridor above 100 MSA?
Reply by the author: The authors are encouraged
by many comments (mostly positive) received on
this paper during and after the presentation. This
shows that the existing bituminous specifications
should be revised by deleting open graded and
semi dense graded bituminous mixes to obtain
long lasting bituminous pavements.
Shri Thakar has asked authors’ opinion on
different bituminous courses to be used in
flexible pavements in terms of wearing, binder,
and base courses. The authors recommend
the following courses to be placed on WMM
conforming to the lift thicknesses given:
Bituminous Base Course - NMAS 25 mm (Use
old DBM Grading 2). Lift 65-100 mm
Bituminous Binder Course - NMAS 19 mm
(Use old BC Grading 1) – Lift 50-80 mm
Bituminous Wearing Course - NMAS 13.2 mm
(Use old BC Grading 2) – Lift 40-50 mm
Recommended lift thicknesses range from 2.5 to
4 times NMAS for good compaction. Whether
one or more of these courses (starting from
wearing course downwards) is used would
depend the pavement design thickness above
54 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
WMM. We may need only the wearing course;
we may need only wearing and binder course; or
we may need all three courses.
For high density traffic corridors above 100
msa, authors recommend the use of stone matrix
asphalt both in wearing and binder courses in
lieu of BC.
Comments of Shri Anil Kumar, CE,
Karnataka PWD
The present challenge to all the road construction
Engineers is to see that the road life cost up to
the design period.
However, as Dr. Veeraragavan sir told in most
of the case, the average road life is upto 3
years & as we know and of the major reasons
for premature failure is due to providing open
graded/semi dense mixes weading course which
will allow water.
Reply by the author: The authors agree with
Shri Anil Kumar that the major reason for
premature failures is the use of open graded
or semi dense graded bituminous mixes which
allow water to penetrate the pavement system.
Comments of Shri Ghanshyam Gupta, SE,
Rajasthan State Agriculture Marketing
Board, Jaipur
In Rajasthan Rural roads presently we are using
open graded premixed carpet with san seal
coating. As suggested by you that double layer
surface dressing shall be used. But my view on
this is that surface dressing & appearance is not
good and it look & like only stone aggregates
and it low traffic intensity then it will not use.
Reply by the author: Responding to Shri
Ghanshyam Gupta’s comments, the authors
believe that economics and performance of
the treatment is by far more important than the
public perception as to how the road looks. In
nation’s interest, we cannot ignore the fact that
cost of double surface dressing is only 60% of
the cost of premix carpet and its performance
is by far much better. If we are concerned about
the appearance, we can choose to use precoated
 Paper discussion
aggregate for surface dressing, with a slight
increase in the cost as given in the paper.
Comments of Shri Shashikant Malli, EE,
PWD, Bidar Karnataka
1 What is cost of per km
2 The Road cost is limit for Rural Road in
Govt. sector, then what will do?
Reply by the author: Authors would like to
inform Shri Mahi that detailed costs per km
are given in the paper. Cost of single surface
dressing is about 1/3 of the cost of Premix
Carpet (PMC). Therefore, we should be able to
save money from allotted funds.
Comments of Shri Srinivas Kumar, Associate
Vice President, IIIE Ltd., Bangalore
Good presentation. Happy & have alternate for
BM & SDBM and for premix.
The submissions: in spite of all research/
technical guidance and poor performance of
SDBC, BMC premix, still PWD authorities
using for their road improvements for 1000 and
add km across stage and wasting public money.
Request you to kindly give stringent circular
to all PWD authorities not to use SDBM, BM
& Premix and replace with BC, DBM & good
surface design.
Reply by the author: Authors are glad to
note Shri Srinivas Kumar concurs with their
recommendations to replace BM, SDBC, and
Premix carpet (PMC) with dense graded BC
and DBM. However, the suggested stringent
circular can only be issued by MORTH to PWD
authorities. Better yet, these undesirable mixes
should be deleted from MORTH specification.
SDBC was deleted from MORTH specifications
in 2013 but since no circular was issued it is still
being used by PWD authorities.
Comments of Dr. I.K. Pateria, Direcctor
(Tech.), NRRDA, New Delhi
1. Surface Dressing has been used in India in
the past. However, it is no more in use. How
to promote this specification as majority of
field officers do not have confidence in it?
2. How academic, Institutions can help in
promoting such useful, most economic
and durable surface course.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 55
Reply by the author: Authors agree with
Dr. Pateriya that surface dressing was used
all over India prior to introduction of Premix
Carpet (PMC) by the IRC during the 1960s.
Gradually, its use was reduced. It is still used
by some highway agencies in India who are
using mechanized chip spreaders manufactured
in Gujarat. The Indian Roads Congress
Specification IRC:110-2005 is excellent for
design and construction of surface dressing.
It is easy to understand and implement by
average field engineers and contractors. We
just need to ban the premix carpet and start
specifying surface dressing on a mandatory
basis. Contractors are smart; they would buy
the mechanized bitumen distributors and chip
spreaders, which are commercially available.
They just have to check the application rates
of bitumen and chips as per specification. We
should not delay its implementation by setting
up demo projects and/or training programs
which can be done simultaneously if so desired.
Comments of Shri D. Prasad, PD – IIIE Ltd.
Bangalore
1. Professor Veeraghavan: maintenance layer
is SDBC – 25 mm is preferred otherwise
40 mm BC will be more expensive for
every 5 years
2. DBM is more stiffer layer compared to
BM is that ok to lay DBM directly over
wet-mix.
Reply by the author: In response to Shri
Prasad’s first comment, it should be noted that
based on life-cycle costs, 40 mm BC is cheaper
than 25 mm SDBC because the former being
dense graded is more durable. Moreover, any
overlay less than 40 mm thick cools rapidly and
cannot be compacted to the desired level. On
the second comment, dense graded bituminous
mixes such as DBM and BC are directly placed
on WMM all over the world.
Comments of S.F. Patil, SE, PWD, Dharwad,
Karnatka
It is not % of binder content used or type of
graded metal taken to required density. But it is
rainfall, rainfall intensity, duration of rainfall are
not properly addressed. The drainage of surface
water, sub-surface water. As long as proper
 Paper discussion
drainage mechanism take camber, side drains
are not properly given, the further issues will be
there in pavements.
My point is not 5 sec., 90 sec or 9 minutes which
will penetrate into any layers. Let whatever
layer be immediate de-watering mechanism
is given top priority otherwise any changes
are also ending in the same poor scenario.
Reply by the author: Authors concur with Shri
Patil that drainage of surface and subsurface
water is very important for the performance of
highway pavement.
Comments of Shri Rajkumar Dasare, JE,
PWD Karnataka
Is it suitable for high rainfall intensity area.
Reply by the author: Responding to Shri Dasare,
it is stated that both dense graded mixes and surface
dressing are suitable in high rainfall areas.
Comments of Shri Madhukar Sul, AEE Kabe
Nagar, Solapur, Maharashtra
For low volume road treatment should be
sustainable presentation shows heavy treatment?
i.e. DBM, BM or SDBC, BC.
Reply by the author: Authors would like
to inform Shri Sul that for low volume roads,
surface dressing has been recommended in lieu
of premix carpet. The former is not only highly
economical but also more durable.
Comments of Shri D. Roychodhury, SE,
CPWD, New Delhi
Excellent presentation & Content. Kindly let us
know whether use of additives ( amino based
or silicone based) are working fine in the top
course for the purpose of reducing permeability?
Reply by the author: Regarding comments by
Shri Roy Choudhary, additives mentioned by
him are not helpful in reducing permeability of
open graded or semi dense graded bituminous
mixes.
Comments of Shri Satish Pandey, Sr. Scientist,
CRRI, New Delhi
As per IRC:SP:78-2008, Mix Seal Surfacing
(MSS) is considered as close graded mix MSS
constructed and laid through Paver, normally
has comparable permeability to BC Grade – 2
56 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
Binder rich surface dressing may pose problem
in high temperature areas where, bleeding is
possible in this layer. In European countries
including South Africa and Australia surface
dressing is popular on low volume road due to
low temperature condition.
Reply by the author: In response to Shri
Pandey’s comments, authors believe that BC
Grading 2 is more densely graded and less
permeable than MSS. It is also designed and
constructed using Marshall design procedures.
Therefore, there is no doubt, BC Grading 2
is far better than MSS. Concerning surface
dressing, it is used all over the world including
high-temperature areas such as those in the US
(Arizona) and African and Asian countries.
Premix carpet is used only in India.
Comments of Shri Udaya Kumar, GM,
DESIGS
Excellent Critical review on existing practices
highlighting the importance of Dense Graded
Mixes.
Though research works prove surface, Dressing
better than OGPC (PMC), Why the same is
not amended in the recent code. 1000 of km
in Karnataka recently been awarded under
NGNRYN with majority of roads stipulated
with OGPC.
Have any research work done on life cycle
cost of dense graded mixes as stated in
conclusion.
Though the MORTH 5th revision is available
there are many ambiguities on specification
given in MORTH/IRC code. Need immediate
issuance of amendment if not revised version of
code.
Reply by the author: Regarding comments
by Shri Uday Kumar, substitution of Premix
Carpet (PMC) needs to be done by MORTH in
the forthcoming revision of specifications. Our
paper’s annexure contains life-cycle costs of
PMC and BC Grading 2; the latter is about 24%
cheaper than the former.
In closing, the authors would like to state that
most comments support authors’ views that
open graded bituminous mixes (such as BM
and premix carpet) and semi dense graded
 Paper discussion
bituminous mixes (such as SDBC and MSS) and replaced with dense graded bituminous
should be deleted from MORTH Specifications mixes or surface dressing as appropriate.
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 664
“A Comparative Study of Dense and Gap Graded Mixes Prepared Using Modified Binders”
by Prof. Praveen Kumar, Nikhil Saboo and Bhaskar Pratim Das
Comments of Shri Satish Pandey, Sr. Scientist,
CRRI, New Delhi
SMA being a gap graded mix always have high
permeability than BC. Although store to stone
contact ensure rut resistance character but at
the same time reduces it fatigue strength. Paper
showed superiority of SMA over BC and DBM
prepared though modified binder particularly
from rut resistance modular. Of different mixes
w.r.t. temperature need to be evaluated for better
understanding of EVA and SBS effect.
Reply by the author: Thanks. It is true that SMA
has higher Voids in Mineral Aggregates (VMA)
(approx. 20%) in comparison to dense graded
mixes (approx. 13%), however, we conducted the
study at a design air void content of 4%. So the
optimum binder content in SMA was higher (about
6.5%) which imparted flexible properties to the
mix, especially when made using polymer modified
binders. Thus higher fatigue life was obtained.
Though we conducted the rutting study at different
temperatures, fatigue life was evaluated only at one
temperature (20 ºC). Study at different temperature
can be one of the future scope. Thanks.
Comments of Shri Manohar Mandoh, EE,
Dharwad, Karnataka
1 Practical
2 Innovative informative
3 CRMB advantage/disadvantage
4 Effect of aggregate with active contract
Reply: Thanks.
Comments of Shri Swapan Kumar Ghosal.
Ex. Team Leader, Kolkata
Use of BC-40 in State Highways SH-7 west
Bengal. DPR made in the year 2014-15 and
work awarded to agency 2015.
We as a consultant, engineer appreciate that case
study as shown by you is O.K.
BG-40 used there and till date rutting is very
very low.
DPR made accepted by PWD (R)/WB.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 57
Reply by the author: Thanks. Yes, VG-40
is better in performance, especially at higher
temperatures. VG 40 being stiffer, offers fair
resistance to rutting. Mixes prepared using VG
30 is expected to fail under such situations.
Comments of Prof. A. Veeraragavan, IIT
Madras
The authors may mention their fatigue and
rutting models developed as an outcome of the
present investigation, so that it will help the
designers to design bituminous pavement layers
with modified binders.
Reply by the author: Thanks. The details about
the developed modeled have been presented
in another manuscript published in Journal of
‘Construction and Building Materials’ with the
title
“New Phenomenological Approach for
Modelling Fatigue Life of Asphalt Mixes”
Comments: The authors have considered 19
mm NMAS for the BC layers. What is the likely
performance of BC mixes with a NMAS of 13.2
mm, as many of the highways with less traffic
may warrant only 30-40 mm BC layer.
Reply by the author: 13.2 mm BC layer being
dense graded is expected to perform satisfactorily
in lower traffic regions.
Comments: The authors may present the resilient
modulus values for the different mixes with
different binders at different temperatures, so that
the values can be used in M-E pavement design.
Reply by the author: Resilient Modulus testing
was not done in this study.
Comments: The legend used in the figures
9,10,11 and 12 look similar for all binders.
Perhaps, the authors should have used different
legend to differentiate different binders.
Reply by the author: Thanks for the appropriate
suggestion but the paper has already been
published.
 Paper discussion
Comments: The authors may suggest the ideal
combination of bituminous layers viz., binder
and surface course with the different binders for
the desired performance based on their study.
Reply by the author: It is expected that SMA in
the binder course with higher amount of binder
content along with dense graded BC in the top
layer will perform better in location with critical
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 665
“Deopani Bridge-Gateway to Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh” by M. Kishore Kumar, D.
Bhattacharyya and Ltd. Gen. S.K. Shrivastava
Comments of Shri H A U V Prasad, Director,
Project Pushpak, BRO
1. An excellent presentation by Dr. Kishore.
2. Congratulations for completing long
pending Deopani Bridge which lay a huge
impact on socio- Economic Development
of Dibang Valley.
Reply by the author: Thanks for your kind
words of encouragement.
Comments of Shri K.V. Nagaraja, CE (C),
AMRC, Vijayawada
1. What are the Dia-meter of the Wells
2. Is there any steel casting for well curb
to avoid damage due to blasting during
sinking?
Reply by the author: 9 m dia for abutment &
amp; Pier wells P1 & amp; P3 whereas 11 m dia
for pier well P2 situated in the midstream of the
river. Cutting edge was provided with steel plate
& angle iron
Comments of R.K. Jaigopal, MD TGRL,
Banglore
1. You can go for jack-down method for well
sinking
2. For Piling, Spalling Bigger dia-Piling
3. Logistic is always problem we will have
to solve it.
Reply by the author: Your valuable suggestions
will be taken for our future projects. However,
well sinking has been a major problem
experienced in the bouldery strata in the North-
Eastern region where boulders as big as 2 to 3 m
dia were found even at 8 to 10 m below the river
bed in Passighat bridge which was constructed
by Gammon India.
58 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
combination of traffic and temperature. Binder
course made with polymer modified binders
(specially SBS modified binders) are expected
to give higher fatigue life to the pavement. BC
layer made with EVA modified binder may
impart exceptional rut resistance property to the
mix. However, life cycle cost estimation will be
required to appreciate its utility.
Comments of Shri Bhudeb Sharma, AEE,
PWD Assam
Can you elaborate the Basic stability calculation
for reducing the well length from design FL
by appropriately – GTO 5M that too of pier
Foundation and in seismic Zone – Y
Reply by the author: Stability calculations were
given in the paper at Table 4 in the technical paper
at Page 43, and based on the stability criteria,
the well was plugged after upward revision.
Comments of Shri Ashok Basa, MD, CEM,
Consultant, Bhubneshwar, Odisha
Comments:
1. There is a big difference between design
of HFC & discharge of Aug 2017. How
this big difference have been justified -
Bridge is in their proof
2. KSF = 4 has been analyzed for score
calculation - what is the basis
3. When there were no cladding plate in the
steering which could have helped for blending
Reply by the author: (1) Yes. Observed HFL
in 2017 was higher by 4m and this is due
to vagaries of natural rains/floods and
diverting of river flow due to unprecedented
flow of large boulders along with the river
flow, which is a common phenomena in
these meandering rivers in North-eastern
India.
(2) Silt factor has been arrived based on
the Grain Size Analysis of the river bed
material passing through IS Sieve 2.36
mm as per the standard procedure.
(3) Cladding plate was not provided in
the well steining, but cutting edge was
 Paper discussion
provided with steel plate & amp; angle
iron. However, there was no tilt or bending
of well steining in the instant case.
Comments of Dr. N.C. Pal, EE, Works
Department, Odisha
1. HFL 55’ e 438/442
2. S. T. L. factor is 4
3. Risk R cost contract
Reply by the author: (1) & (2) Same as replies
to the queries raised by Shri Ashok Basa,
Odisha.
(3) The Department had no option other than
to cancel the contract with M/s Banka
India and complete the balance works
through Risk & amp; Cost contract.
Comments of Shri Debashish Sinha, CE NH
PW (R) Dir. Govt. of West Bengal
As you have explained that a log of difficulties
as faced in sinking of wells in foundation of the
bridge. In such case, whether R.C.C. bored piles
may be a solution to overcome the difficulties
and time overrun
Comments of Shri Manoj Shrivastava,
Consultant, Bhopal
Why Pile Foundation is not provided
Comments of Shri Murali K., Asst. Engineer,
KPWD, Bangaluru
Why pile foundation is not suitable in such case
Comments of Shri F.M. Panigrahi S.E. Works
Deptt. Odisha
The riverbed is rocky why it is not thought/
planned for pile foundation?
Is pile foundation will be costly and take more
time as compared to well foundation? What is
present practice of BRO for foundation planning
in current days on rocky rivers?
Comments of Shri Tanaji Pandit Thite,
Director, Pune
Why Foundation type is well foundation o& not
pile foundation.
Replies to Debashish Sinha, Manoj Srivastava,
Murali K, FM Panigrahi & Tanaji, : This bridge
was commenced in 2003 with well foundation.
As you have rightly pointed out, recent bridges
such as Dhola sadiya, Alubarighat & Dibang
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 59
bridges have been employing bored piles, may
be due to the quantum of work as well as the
technology advancements. I fully agree with
you that pile foundations would have saved
the precious time. More over, longer span
configurations such as cable stayed bridges upto
400 m would be the best options since obviating
the mid piers.
Comments of Shri Bablu Kumar, EE, RCD,
Bihar
Whether BRO recovered risk and cost amount
of superstructure from Bankura Infrastructure
Ltd.?
Reply by the author: No. Risk & Cost
amount could not be recovered as the firm has
become bankrupt.
Comments of Shri S. K. Jain, Team Leader,
CEG Ltd., Jaipur
Comments: Can it be possible by doing piling
of required nos & dia and then concreting of pile
cap of width of outer dia of well foundation and
the cavity also filled with cone and in the way
load can be transferred to required level.
Reply by the author: This suggestion was
explored at Passighat bridge at Pier well P3
when contractor M/s gammon India declined
to carry out further sinking stating the practical
difficulties despite adopting pneumatic sinking.
However, founding level was revised after
mutual consultations & amp; referral to expert
bodies.
Comments of Shri Biswanath Bhattacharjee
(Retd.) Addl. CE, PWD, Assam
Almost all the rivers in upper Assam & Arunachal
Pradesh are meandering in nature. While the river
is in spate its current & velocity is increased to
that extent that it will destroy anything within an
hour. Again when water needs the river bed get
silos. So proper estimation of river depth cannot
be done if it is not taken in proper time mud it
is one on the reason for rind pier failure. It was
experienced in earlier bridges also.
In my opinion rind pier should be avoided in
any way in that type of river and cable stayed
bridge/suspension bridge should be constructed
to avoid further collapse and to avoid wasteful
expenditure.
 Paper discussion
Reply by the author: Same was opined in the
conclusion of the paper. Thank you for your
suggestion.
Comments of Shri A.S. Chendke, Tech.
Advisor, NPRDC, Bhopal
When the steel plate lining provided on inner &
outer side in well curls of piers & abutments as
the sinking was required in boundary strata.
Comments of Shri Prabhakar Hamiji, SE,
P&I, WRBO, Banglore
Comments: The presentation quite good, apart
from being precise.
The problems faced during bridge construction,
very peculiar to North Eastern region were
enumerated properly
Reply by the author: Ya. Steel plate lining was
provided in the well curb as can be seen from the
Figs 4 & 5 of the paper at Page 41.
Comments of Shri R. Jai Prasad, E-in-C
(Retd.) RCD, Bihar
“Let not construction of our bridges follow
constructing Taj Mahal”
We can go for composite construction with steel
superstructure. Overdue excess over RCC will
20-25%. Two gears for investigation & Design
6-12 months construction.
Reply by the author: Thanks for your kind
words of encouragement.
Comments of Shri H.S. Shilpavi, AE,
H&FWD, Banglore
“Deopani Bridge – Gateway to Dibang Valley
in Arunachal Pradesh” - Shri M. Kishore Kumar
Practical difficulty was addressed. It was very
much useful.
Reply by the author: Thank you for
your valuable suggestions. Even in BRO,
superstructure with steel truss through type
bridges are constructed for spans ranging from
65 m to 80 m above on RCC abutments.
Comments of Ritambhara Panigrahi,
Structure Engg.
1) What is the proper nature of river bed of
the Brahmaputra ? (As somewhere I heard
that the nature of each flood is different
60 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
from one another)
2) Will it be okay if we now propose for
suspension bridge? (I If the bed can carry
loads via pytons & piers)
3) Why Brahmaputra has such a complicated
river bed?
Reply by the author:
(1) Sand mixed with large boulders. These
boulders keep rolling; floating with
devastating floods causing damage to the
bridge substructure. It was experienced at
Deopani river that many steel bailey bridges
got washed away with the floods in the past
and construction of prestressed concrete
bridge is the only permanent solution.
(2) The 300 metre long prestressed
concrete bridge is completed and open
to traffic, thus no requirement for any
sort of suspension bridge. Cable stayed
bridge if proposed initially would have
obviated the requirement of mid piers
and its consequent problems during the
construction stage and would have helped
in early completion.
(3) May be due to its massive discharge and
also fluctuating flow during peak; non-
rainy season.
Comments of Shri Sri Papul Saikia, AE,
PWD, Assam
Very challenging job, well executed by dint of
hard work.
Comments of Shri Nagendra Pattanashetty,
AE, PWD, Karnataka
Deopani Bridge – Gateway to Dibang vally in
Arunachal Pradesh by Mr. Kisore kumar BRO.
Presentation is very good and it is very good the
project is completed within a period.
Comments of Shri Alok Jyoti Das, EE, PWD,
Assam
Very nice presentation about Deopani Bridge,
thanks for great presentation.
Comments of Shri S. Ramakrishna Reddy,
Director, RRRK Associate, Hyderbad
Introduction Technology in Bridge Construction
and Geo-technical investigations is commendable
effort.
 Paper discussion
Comments of Shri Omprakash Singh, SPE,
BRPNN Ltd. Patna
1. Deopani Bridge Gateway to Dibang Valley in
Arunachal Pradesh - Very Good
2. Urgent need to introduce innovative
&keeping change in India for accented
progress – good.
3. Examination of structure safety of concrete
pavement with wider panel – very good
4. Design Build contract: need to
constructability & sustainability through
value feeing – good .
Reply to Papul Saikia, Nagendra Pattanshetty,
Alok Jyoti das, S Ramakrishna Reddy; Om
Prakash Singh: Thanks for your kind words of
encouragement.
Comments of Shri Nirmala B R, AE, H&FWD
Egg. Banglore
The presentation regarding the Deopani Bridge
construction is very nice. In the presentation we come
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 666
“Procedure for Green Highways Rating System in India (GHRSI)” by Tamosi Bhattacharya and
Anuradha Shukla
Comments of Shri Pawan Goyal, Ex. E.,
Rajasthan State Agricultural Marketing
Board, Jaipur
It’s great discussing green Highways. We
develop, if only our lines are peaceful & happy
& that can only be achieved if we protect our
nature.
Reply by the author: Thanks for understanding
the importance of green rating of roads and
appreciating the efforts.
Comments of Dr. K. Ravinder, Principal
Scientist, CRRI, New Delhi
1 All the stages of Road, this green Highways
rating will be applied.
2 If so, the proposed facilities are not
executed what would be the correction to
rating
3 What is the impact linkage of green
highway rating in term a government
policies (Incentives)
Reply by the author: In case proposed facilities
are not executed during construction, the project
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 61
to know the practical difficulties & how to tackle the
situation. Overall the presentation is good.
Comments of Shri A.K. Kadirvel, AE, Highway
Department, Tamilnadu
Good work by our engineer even hardest situation
– great.
Comments of Shri D Kuppusamy, DE, Highway
Department, Tamilnadu
The presentation has clearly explained the field
problems faced during construction – very much
useful.
Comments of Shri K. Jayalaxshmi, DE Highway
Depatment, Tamilnadu
‘Deopani Bridge – Gateway to Dibang Vally
in AP was also a knowledge provider to days
applications.
Reply by the author to Nirmala BR, AK Kadirvel,
D Kuppuswamy & K Jayalakshmi: Thanks for
your kind words of encouragement.
will get lower rating and may or may not remain
a green project any more during construction
phase.
Successful designing or execution of green rated
projects can be used as preferred credential in
the contracts that will act as an incentive for
both consultants and contractors. Green ratings
can be appraised by the Green Highway Division
of NHAI and an approval certificate can be
provided to consultants and contractors that they
can submit while bidding.
Comments of Shri Ghanshyam Gupta, SE,
RSAMB, Jaipur
How GHRSI is linked with effectiveness of any
road product and how GHRSI is related with
consumption of fruits & Vegetable wastes in our
mandi yard and how this waste materials cab be
used in Road’s Construction.
Reply by the author: Vegetable wastes can be
used as sub base materials in road construction.
This subject is already under research in CRRI.
There was a presentation by CRRI scientist in
the same session explaining about the usage of
 Paper discussion
organic waste in road construction. The same
may be referred.
Comments of Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh,
Consultant, Banglore
It is mentioned that Reduction in carbon
emission during construction stage. But fact is
carbon emission increases during construction
activities.
How can we reduce the carbon footprint during
construction scenario?
Reply by the author: Carbon footprint reduction
during construction stage is very much essential.
This can be done by using such materials that has
lesser embodied and direct emission or reducing
the use of virgin natural resources. For eg. Use of
industrial by products or wastes like fly ash, slag
cement, silica fumes to reduce usage of cement in
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 667
“Capacity Models and Adjestment Factors for Interurban Bidirectional Roads” by
Ravi Sekhar Ch., Dr. Velmurugan S., Dr. Satish Chandra, Balakrishan K., & Nataraju J.
Comments of Shri Pravez Ahmad Khan, EE,
NH, PWD, Lucknow, UP
Much needed research work done by CRRI,
Need to consider comparative cost analysis of
commotional E/W to by MSW. Also need to
explore the use of unused material of MSW.
Reply by the author: Cost analysis is beyond
the purview of this study. It may be noted that
this paper has been primarily derived from the
maiden CSIR sponsored study titled, “Indian
Highway Capacity Manual: (Indo-HCM)”
accomplished under the leadership of CSIR –
Central Road Research Institute (CRRI). Such
studies done elsewhere for instance, US - HCM,
Indonesian HCM and Chinese HCM also did
not cover the aspects mentioned in the above
comments. This is because they are never
considered part of capacity manuals developed
in the above countries as well. The above aspects
are primarily part of typical materials to be used
in road construction.
Comments of Prof. M. Parida, Professor, IIT
Roorkee,
I appreciate meticulous efforts of authors for
working out capacities of interurban roads.
62 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
rigid pavements, bridges, culverts etc. Use of locally
or nearest available materials will reduce fuel usage
in transportation. Various types of pavements (RAP,
composite pavement with non-cementitous base,
rigid pavement with non-cementitous additives)
shall be compared during design period Emissions
from road construction can be easily calculated
using CHANGER, the calculator developed by
International Roads Federation.
Comments of Shri Sheesh Ram Basra, Addl.
CE, RSAMB, Jaipur,
Very good & Important Technical Session.
As due to matter is related to human life &
human safety/security.
Reply by the author: Thanks for understanding
the importance of green rating of roads and
appreciating the efforts.
It is high time that we update our capacity values
which are very old (IRC:64-1990) and adopt a
scientific approach towards capacity estimation
as in practice in many developed countries
(Example US Highway Capacity Manual)
Is there a possibility of usage of the capacity
figures proposed in the paper in the current
highway development program in the country?
Reply by the author: We thank for your
compliments and appreciate your concerns. We
also emphasized in the CSIR – CRRI (2017)
“Indian Highway Capacity Manual: (Indo-
HCM)” sponsored by Council of Scientific
Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. To have
outreach, the complimentary copies of Indo -
HCM have been sent by CSIR - CRRI to various
stakeholders like Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways (MoRT&H), National Highways
of Authority of India (NHAI), Indian Roads
Congress (IRC), Ministry of Urban Development
(MoUD), etc. Further, the outcome of entire
study including the results presented in this paper
is detailed in Chapters 2 3, 4 and 5 of the Indo-
HCM Report. Based on the above document,
IRC:64 (1990) and IRC:106 (1990) have been
revised by Dr.S. Velmurugan in the capacity of
 Paper discussion
Convener of the respective IRC committees and
submitted to Indian Road Congress (IRC) for its
consideration and finalization.
The capacity values evolved in this study can
be considered for any highway development
program in the country as the Indo-HCM
document received excellent recognition during
its release by the Minister of Road Transport and
Highways, Mr. Nitin R. Gadkari on 12.02.2018
at Transport Bhavan. NHAI is adopting
the same during the capacity augmentation
programs taken in the country.
Comments of Shri M.K. Gupta, Project
Director, EAP, UP PWD
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 668
“Urgent Need to Introduce Innovative and Sweeping Changes in the Construction of Bridges
in India for Accelerated Progress” by R.K. Jaigopal
Comments of Shri Niels Freder KSEN,
Director, Brook land Infra. Gujarat
Sustainability: Ensure that environmental
sustainability is given high attention at technique
(evaluation on Design & Build proposals.
Reply by the author: This system is
environmental sustainable due to its method of
functioning.
Comments of Shri B.K. Kadirvel, AE,
Highway Department, Tamilnadu
The need for speedy construction is essential
now for all the vehicle users and public get
benefitted earlier.
Reply by the author: Hence the paper
Comments of Shri D. Kupusamy, AEE,
Highway Department, Tamilnadu
Accelerated Bridge Construction Technique
Very much surprised to know that a bridge was
constructed with pile foundations in just 7 days
time very much useful. The government should
take initiatives to introduce these techniques
atleast hereafter.
Reply by the author: Governments in particular
central, state and urban level bodies have to take
required steps.
Comments of Shri Swapan Majumdar, CE,
PWD, W.B.
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 63
We can use 44% waste material found useful in
road construction.
How we are going to dispose rest 56% waste
not found it? Is there any plan or though with
CRRI.
Reply by the author: Disposal waste is beyond
the purview of this study. This is because they
are never considered part of capacity manual
development. However, it is clarified that CSIR-
CRRI has out studies on usage of various types of
waste material in road construction. The results
and findings of the same are available in the
website of the institute and many international /
national publications.
For early completion of bridge/flyover at
congested area:
i) Precast and prestressed deck slab can be
provided over prestressed concrete gurder.
This process quality contract can checked
properly. This process will reduce the
completion time even in congested area.
ii) Salitex board and sealing compound
should be used in joints of precast slab.
A layer of bituminous paint can also be
painted over the gurder.
iii) Wear course with mastic asphalt or strong
wearing course to be provided over the
slab. Precast slab can be placed with a
very small crane.
Reply by the author: Agreed
Comments of Shri K Jayalakshmi, DE,
Highway Department, Tamilnadu
This Paper is a wonderful article for to days
bridge engineers and is extremely rich in
knowledge gaining attitude.
Reply by the author: Thank you for encouraging
remarks
Comments of Shri Nagendera Pattanashetty,
AE, PWD, Karnatka
Urgent need to introduce innovative and weeping
change in the construction of bridges in India for
accelerated progress.
 Paper discussion
Reply by the author: Yes
Comments of Shri G. Venkateshwara, EE,
PWD, Hyderabad
It is commonly experienced that the wearing
coats (4’ lair) of submersible bridge are being
washed away during the floods. How can we
prevent it?
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 669
“Municipal Solid Waste in Road Embankment Construction-A Case Study” by Dr. V.G.
Havangi, Dr. A.K. Sinha, G.S. Parvathi & Dr. Satish Chandra
Comments of Shri Bablu Kumar, EE, RCD,
Bihar
What is the quantity of segregated MSW which
can be used . Where this material can be used,
Whether it will be cut or fill or widening?.
What is the expected behaviour in the field with
respect to settlement?
The research is good considering as it is socially
relevant.
Reply by the author: About 70% of Segregated
Municipal Solid Wastes can be used in Road
embankment construction. It can also be used in
road widening as an embankment fill material.
Settlement of the 3 m and 5 m embankment ranged
between 300 mm to 500 mm for a design period of
20 years. However it is less than 600 mm which
is the permissible settlement as per IRC-75.
Comments of Dr D.V. Rao (Professor Rtd.)
The utilization of MSW in road embankment
will definitely solve the landfill disposal problem
faced by civic agencies in different states of the
country.
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 670
“Pre Qualification in Public Private Partnership Highway Projects of India” by Tharun Dolla
and Boeing Laishram
Comments of Ms. G. Kavitha, Faculty RASTA
1. 2 option of pavement design
nd
When you provide (TSB) what provision
have you made for drainage?
No drainage layer is seen in your design.
All though the over all thickness is
include can this design be recommended
for Highways Roads? How about its field
performance.
64 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
Reply by the author: Put CC wearing coat, try
to anchor steel to slab from top at lesser intervals.
Comments of Shri Yogesh Kumar Jayant, EE,
PWD UP
Very useful session. Innovative for Highway
Construction.
Reply: Thank you
Comments of Shri M.K.Gupta, Project
Director, EAP, UP PWD
CSIR-CRRI shall take up a case study on
utilization of MSW in an important road. Its
utilization on Nizzamuddin NH-24 expressway
will draw more attention of the public.
Reply by the author: CSIR-CRRI is already
collaborating with NHAI/MORTH/MORD to
carry out a case study on 14 lane, NH-24 (Delhi-
Meerut expressway) widening project.
Comments of Shri Jeevaraj MN, CE, PWD,
Kerala
Will the characteristics of solid waste vary in
different places , States to States. If so, will 65-
75% usable for embankment filling will apply to
all places.
Reply by the author: Yes, the geotechnical
characteristics of MSW may vary in different
places. The quantity of usable material may
also vary in different places. However, different
laboratory studies have indicated its feasibility
in Road embankment construction.
The reader has commented as follows – & quot;
With aggressive bid happening in many PPP
projects, there is a need to study the success rate
of High Premium Projects & quot;
Reply by the author: In the study (paper
no 670), the authors argued the need of right
prequalification criteria and discussed the
trends of prequalification limits used in the
National Highway PPP projects in India under
 Paper discussion
zone wise, PPP mode wise, and state wise. The
authors appreciate the observation of the reader
that ‘aggressive bidding is happening in many
PPP projects’ and correspondingly identified
a gap that ‘there is a need to study the success
rate of High Premium Projects’ in the current
body of knowledge. Though remarkable, these
comments may have germinated from reader’s
own experience that was also reinforced by
study conducted by FICCI1, nevertheless, the
paper didn’t aim to address this issue in the first
place. This study restricted its focus on premium
paid to government as selection criteria for the
award of the project (pp 95, Paper 670), and
the influence on its prequalification. Neither
the authors attempted to study the success rate
of high premium projects nor there were data
available on the extent of premium/grant and the
corresponding field result in terms of success or
failure of the sampled 258 PPP projects, which
restricted in drawing reasonable insights in this
direction. Also, FICCI1 states that aggressive
bidding is more observed in EPC contracts which
is not in the scope of PPP studies. However, it
is worthwhile to note that aggressive bidding
can be expected in aggressive competition in
the tendering phase. Iyer et al2 identified that
aggressive competition has been one of the factors
which affected the cost performances of projects,
time overruns, and they also argued that selection
of low bidder would possibly result in poor
quality. This may also result in a phenomenon
called winners curse which Ahmed et al3 defined
‘as the situation when the bidder, with the most
optimistic (low) project cost estimate, wins the
project contract based on a submitted bid less
than the true project construction cost’. They
also commented that the ill effects on the bidder
who fails to take the winner’s curse problem into
Comments & Reply on Paper No. 671
“Evaluation of Flexible Pavements with Stabilized Granular and Bituminous Base” by Nischal
Gupta & Manoj Kumar Shukla
Comments of Ms. Veena C. Patil, AE, Belgaum
Need to analyses on costing part also and overlay
period
Reply by the author: Since there is substantial
reduction in thickness of DBM layer, the cost of
construction will be less. Based on performance
Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018 65
account is earning negative or, at least, below
normal profits. The authors found the reasons
of winners’ curse as (1) inaccurate estimates of
project cost; (2) new contractors entering the
construction market; (3) minimizing losses in
case of recession of the construction industry;
(4) strong competition within the construction
market; (5) differential opportunity costs, which
can affect the behaviour of contractors; (6) and
the intention to win the project and then remedy
the losses through change orders, claims, and
other mechanisms. Research findings hinted that
winners curse is more pervasive in single stage
bidding which therefore reinforces multistage
bidding procedures both in prequalification and
the tendering as deduced from the current study.
Future directions for empirical research could be
to perform case studies on some high premium
PPP projects and analyse the presence/absence
of the ill affects of aggressive bidding indicators
and correlate and quantify the success rate with
these factors.
References:
1. FICCI. India PPP Summit 2017: Revival
of PPP momentum in the transport sector.
(Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry and Ernst &
Young, 2017).
2. Jha, K. N. & Iyer, K. C. Critical
Factors Affecting Schedule Performance:
Evidence from Indian Construction
Projects. J. Constr. Eng. Manag. 132,
871–881 (2006).
3. Ahmed, M. O., El-adaway, I. H., Coatney,
K. T. & Eid, M. S. Construction
Bidding and the Winner’s Curse: Game
Theory Approach. J. Constr. Eng. Manag.
142, 4015076 (2016).
studies of CTSB/CTB layer (which is to be
established), the overlay will be decided.
Comments of Shri Vikas Thakar, Consultant
CTSB in place of GSB was used to layer in
option No. 2.
 Paper discussion
Is CTSB also supposed to perform the drainage
facture as GSB is specifically provided as a
drainage layer.
Reply by the author: Yes, CTSB also performs
as partial drainage layer.
Comments of Shri Rama kumar Shama, SE,
Haryana
In conventional method of Rural Road
construction GSB acted as drainage layer. If it
is stabilized with cement should we lay separate
drainage layer for effective drainage.
Reply by the author: CTSB also perform as
partial drainage layer. Prof. B.B. Pandey, IIT
Kharagpur has also demonstrated this fact in
some of his presentation.
Comments of Prof. A. Veeraragavan, IIT
Madras
The authors have presented the average test
results. It will be better, if the authors present
the number of tests carried out, mean, standard
deviation and CoV in the test results.
The authors have mentioned that Cement Treated
Sub-base was prepared at 3% cement content.
What was the UCS value for the mixes?
Only for cementations granular sub-bases,
having 7 days UCS value of 1.5 to 3 MPa, the
lab based E-value is 1000* UCS. The authors
could have verified the 7/28 days UCS, instead
of adopting the values given in IRC:37 directly.
Did the authors carry out fatigue tests on CTSB
material? If so, the results may be presented.
The design of pavements with cemented base/
sub-base should be checked for fracture of the
brittle material. The design should be based on
cumulative fatigue damage analysis. The authors
may explain how they accounted for the fatigue
of the stabilized layer in the design?
66 Journal of the indian Roads Congress, January - March, 2018
The authors may highlight the significant in the
thickness value from the present study when
compared to IRC:37–2012.
The authors may suggest their recommendations
for sub-surface drainage when cement treated
sub-surface layer is laid.
Reply by the author: The tests were conducted
with controlled gradation/other parameters
and therefore test results are reproducible.
2) The UCS of CTSB at 3% cement was
found to be 6 MPa.
3) The actual values of UCS were determined
in the lab and has been used in analysis.
UCS values were not adopted values given
in IRC:37:2012
4) Fatigue tests were not done on CTSB.
This study will be done in further scope of
work.
5) Design Analysis is based on assumed
fatigue damage analysis value of less than
1.0 in all the cases to have uniform traffic
loading pattern for comparison purpose.
6) The analysis was done through software
IIT Pave.
7) Sub surface drainage analysis depends on
various parameters of crust composition
an type of terrain, which is beyond the
scope of this paper.
Comments of Shri B.B. Rampal, CGM, KCC
Buildcon Pvt. Ltd., Chandigarh
I read above mentioned paper and there is my
one quarry that is:-
When we use the scenario-2 & 3, is drainage
layer, day light under CTSB would be use.
Reply by the author: In scenario-2 CTSB
performs as partial drainage layer. While in
Scenario 3 GSB layer performs as drainage
layer.