IRC-H-6-IRC-82-Final-Draft-15.01.2015.docx

First Revision of

Code of Practice for Maintenance of Bituminous Road Surfaces (IRC: 82)

Indian Roads Congress 1 | Page

Section 1 Introduction (To be added by IRC)

Section 2 Scope 2.1

By early detection of distress and appropriate repair of bituminous surface at initial stages, further deterioration of the pavement surface can be prevented or delayed. This code of Practice deals only with the “Routine”, “Preventive” and “Periodic” maintenance of bituminous surfaces.

2.2

Several phases are involved in undertaking maintenance operations for bituminous surfaces as discussed in subsequent sections. Section 3 and 4 deals with importance and types of

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maintenance. Maintenance Planning and system approach for maintenance are described in Sections 5 and 6, respectively. Types of pavement distresses, identification, severity, their causes, and methods of treatment are given in Section 7. 2.3

Preventive maintenance is need of the day and is described in section 8. Periodic renewals are covered in Section 9. Sections, 10, 11, 12, and 13 deal with the materials and methods for rectification, tools and equipment, arrangements for traffic, and organization and management, respectively.

2.4

Operations falling in the category of pavement rehabilitation and strengthening are beyond the scope of this code of practice. For design of rehabilitation and strengthening measures for existing pavements, reference may be made to the following publications. i) IRC:81 “Guidelines for Strengthening of Flexible Road Pavement using Benkelman Beam Deflection Technique” ii) IRC:37 “Tentative Guidelines for the Design of Flexible Pavements” iii) IRC:115 “Guidelines for Structural Evaluation and Strengthening of Flexible Pavement using Falling Weight Deflectometer, as the case may be.

Section 3 Importance of Maintenance The timely upkeep and maintenance of bituminous surfacing offers numerous benefits for preservation of road asset. The importance of overall maintenance is described below: i) Reduction in rate of deterioration and improvement in life of road ii) Reduction in Vehicle Operation Costs (VOC) iii) Reduction in rate of accidents iv) Keeping traffic worthy roads in all weather v) Reduction in pollution by reduced fuel consumption vi) Savings in budgetary expenditure of restoration/ reconstruction Timely and regular maintenance of roads have been known to provide economic rate of return as high as 15 to 20 percent depending upon the category of road and traffic volume. Moreover, it helps in deferring the demand for rehabilitation which otherwise is far more costlier than preventive maintenance. Therefore, timely and appropriate maintenance of bituminous surface using sustainable/ suitable materials and methods is significant for preservation of road asset and to serve the intended purpose. 3 | Page

Section 4 Types of Maintenance Maintenance operations covered in this Code of Practice are classified into three broad categories (a)

Routine Maintenance: This covers items such as filling of potholes, repairing of cracks and patch work, which are undertaken by the maintenance staff almost round the year

(b)

Preventive Maintenance: The preventive maintenance is performed to improve or extend the functional life of pavement surface while in good condition. This may defer the need of periodic maintenance and rehabilitation.

(c)

Periodic Maintenance: This includes regular maintenance operations compared to preventive maintenance such as applying a renewal coat, which are required to be done periodically at the specified frequency or based upon condition and performance of road surface depending upon category of road, traffic and climatic conditions.

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Section 5 Planning of Maintenance Activities 5.1 All types of pavement maintenance need a comprehensive maintenance program. Following guidelines are to be considered in planning of routine, preventive and periodic maintenance activities. The first step towards planning of maintenance operations is the evaluation of the existing pavement surface in terms of its physical condition as well as structural capacity. For this purpose, pavement condition surveys may be undertaken by the visual assessment of the surface by identifying type, location and magnitude of the distress as described in Appendix – 1 and recorded in a standard format as in Proforma 1, in order to decide time as well as type of maintenance treatment to be given. In case more precise condition data is required in project level based maintenance strategies, then surface distress may be recorded by actual measurements as described in Appendix – 2 and to be recorded in a standard format as given in Proforma 2. The rating of pavement may be assigned as per criteria given in Tables 5.1 to 5.3 for different categories of roads. Table 5.1 Pavement Distress Based Rating for Highways Defects (type) Cracking (%) Raveling (%) Potholes (%) Shoving (%) Patching (%) Settlement

Range of Distress 5.0 to 10.0 1.0 to 10.0 0.1 to 1.0 0.1 to 1.0 1 to 10 1 to 5

and

>10 >10 >1.0 >1.0 >10 >5

Depression (%) Rut depth (mm) using

>10

5.0 to 10.0

5 1 Poor

Range of Distress 10-20 10-20 0.5 to 1.0 5-20 2 to 5 1.1 - 2 Fair

< 10.0 5 >10 1 Poor

Range of Distress 5-15 5 to 10