Highway Maintenance and Repair

Highway maintenance is defined as preserving and

keeping the serviceable conditions of highway as normal
as possible and practicable. The main objectives of road
maintenance management are allocation of available
maintenance resource according to actual needs and
priorities.

Types of Maintenance activities

a)Routine maintenance:
Maintenance operations of localized nature required
continually on any road. The works are generally carried out by
forced labour . It covers the following activities :
1. Sweeping of roads
2. Maintenance of shoulders
3. Cutting of grasses
4. Cleaning of culverts
5. Clearing of bridges
6. Cleaning of minor slides
 7. Cleaning of road furniture
8. Cleaning of side drains

b) Recurrent maintenance :
maintenance operations of localized nature of limited
extent carried out at more or less regular interval of six
month to years with a frequency that depends on traffic
volume. The works are generally carried out by contract
by use of minor equipment. It covers the activities like
pot hole patching, edge repair, holes and ruts , repair of
depression, maintenance of drains etc.

c) periodic maintenance :
Maintenace operation of large extent required at interval
of several years (generally at interval of 6 years in case of
black top and 4 years in case of gravel road depending
upon the volume of traffic).it cover the renewal of
wearing surface, repairing the damaged portion of side
drains, reparing earth retaining wall, reparing parapet
wall and railing at bridges and culverts, resealing,
resurfacing etc.

d) specific maintenance:
when the maintenance required at certain locationof
road then it is called specific maintenance. The
judgement of this maintenance is done by the supervisor.

e)Preventive maintenance :
action taken to prevent premature deterioration to
reduce the rate of deterioration and effectively increase
the useful life of the pavement.

f) corrective maintenance :
action taken to correct deficiencies which are potentially
hazardous,eg: to repair defects which seriously affect
pavement”s operation so as to keep the highway within
tolerable level of serviceability.
Maintenance of Earth Roads
The usual damages caused in earth roads needing
frequent maintenance are :

 Formation of dust in dry weather

 Formation of longitudinal ruts along wheel paths of
vehicles.
 Formation of cross ruts along the surface due to
surface water.
Dust nuisance can be reduced by following methods :
 Sprinkling of water.
 Treatment with calcium chloride and other
palliatives..
 By spreading moist soil along ruts and reshaping of
chamber is necessary.
Maintenance of gravel road
Maintenance of gravel roads should be done on the same
ways as that of earth roads but in no case soil should be
spread over the gravel surface. Only garvel should be
used.

Maintenance of WBM roads

WBM roads are damaged rapidly due to heavy mixed
traffic and fast moving vehicles and adverse climatic
conditions. In dry weather dust is formed and during
rains mud is formed.due to combined effects of traffic
and the rainwater washing away the soil binder from the
surface , the stone aggregates get loose on the surface
layer. Potholes and ruts are also formed.
Remedial measures
 Spreading a thin layer of moist soil binder on the
surface as a part of periodic maintenance
particularly after the monsoons can prevent the
aggregate from getting loosened from the surface
course.
 Potholes and ruts are maintained by patch repair
work
 Dust nuisance can be prevented by providing a) dust
palliatives b) moist soil c) bituminous surface
dressing course over WBM.
 After useful life of WBM road or when it fails
extensively, resurfacing is carried out.

Maintenance of bituminious Surfaces

Regular and frequent inspections are essential for
reparing failures in early stages. The maintenance works
of bituminious surface mainly consisits :
1)Patch repairs:
Patch repairs may needed for damaged portion of the
road and potholes or for removing of inequalities in
shape and surface and removing waviness in order to
smooth a rough or uneven riding surface.
Patching consists of the following sequence of
operations:-
 Cleaning the area by brooming.
 Trimming the sides vertically and the shape to a
rectangular or square and making the bottom
level.
 Holes should be cleaned of all loosen aggregate,
dust , foreign matter and water before the patch
is applied.
 Painting the sides and bottom of the hole with a
tack coat if a premix material is used following
the regular specifications of treatment.
 Patching material should be compacted with
roller and raveling will not take place.
 If the depth of hole is more than 7.5 cm, the
patch should be done in two or more layers and
each layer tamped or rolled.
  Pot- hole should be maintained in such a way
that filled materials projects 10mm above the
existing level.

2)Resurfacing
In the event when paving surface is totally worn out and
develops a poor riding surface, it may be more
economical to provide an additional surface course on
the existing surface.if the pavement is of adequate
thickness due to increase in traffic loads and strengthing
is necessary, then an overlay of adequate thickness
should be designed and constructed.

3)Crack sealing

In rigid pavementmain defect is the formation of cracks

and henece this cracks should be examined and suitable
remedial measures should be taken.
Treatments of cracks :
The cracks developed in cement concrete slabs are :
 Temperature cracks formed across the slab between
a pair of tranverse or longitudinal joints .
 Structural cracks formed near the edge and corner
regions due to combined wheel load and warping
stresses.

The cracks developed in pavements are sealed by

following process:
 Dust,sand and other loose particles at the cracks
are thoroughly cleanes using a shape tool, stiff
brush and a pressure blower.
 Kerosene oil is applied on the cleaned cracks to
facilitate proper bonding of sealing material.
 Cracks are filled by suitable grade bituminous
sealing compound heated to liquid consistency.
 The sealer is placed upto about 3mm above the
slab level along the crack.
 A sand layer is spread over it to protect the sealer
temporarily.
Maintenance of drainage structures
Proper drainage maintenance requires all structures
pertaining to removal of water form the highway have to
be kept in good working condition so as to provide free
and unobstructed flow. Generally it consists of :
I. Surface drainage
II. Ditches
III. Subsurface drainage

Good surface drainage is maintained by having the

pavement surface as water proof as possible and by
having such crown and surface smoothness that water
will flow freely to the road edge and on to the shoulder.

Shoulders are maintained flush with the pavement and

smooth enough to provide for free flow of water away
from edge of the road and across the shoulder to the
side ditch in cut sections and downslope of the fill
sections.
The side ditch, which runs longitudinally and outside the
shoulder, should be maintained below the grade of
subgrade in order that water from the subgrade can be
drained to side ditch. The ditch should be kept about 30-
40 cm below the top of the subgrade and should be kept
sufficiently large to carry the runoff of the area draining
into it .

All other elements of drainage system such as catch

basins, manholes, culverts, strom sewers, subsurface
drains should be inspected frequently enough to assure
their proper functioning.