#KCP ENGINEERS INITIATES CONSTRUCTING TOP 10 TECHNOLOGIES USER IN ROAD 2020

Road construction materials and machines
Context
Usage of innovative materials, automation and machine
control technologies in the construction sector is
encouraged worldwide in order to improve efficiency and
lower the impact on environment. Developed countries are
already seeing benefits of this, such as higher productivity,
controlled costs, high rate of predictability, efficiency,
quality, safety etc. In addition, it is also helping them keep
projects on track and complete them in time, that too at
higher quality standards. In India, construction is one of the
least automated industries. However, now attempts are
being made to introduce new technologies in the sector.
Some of the recent advancements in use of materials and
equipment in road construction are:
Use of plastic waste in bituminous
pavement
In 2015, the Centre made it mandatory for all road
developers to use plastic waste for construction. The move
came after Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a professor from
Madurai’s Thiagarajar College of Engineering, developed a
process to build roads by recycling plastic waste. This is one
of the few innovations that is completely home-developed.
As per the process, plastic waste is first shredded (a
technique where all the dust particles are eliminated, and
plastic items are shredded into fine pieces), and heated at
165°C. This is then added to the bitumen mix, which is also
heated at 160°C. This mix is used for constructing roads.
Field performance studies have found the process to be
advantageous as the roads constructed using this mix have
higher resistance to deformation, increased durability,
improved fatigue life and better stability and strength.
Moreover, the process is also a way to dispose of plastic
waste in a way that is less harmful to environment.
By 2018, India built one lakh km of roads in at least 11 states

4 NDTV article on plastic roads in India dated 26th October, 2018
5 PIB, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways dated 1st October, 2019
using discarded plastic.
4 The Ministry of Road Transport &
Highways (MoRTH) has embarked on a mission to utilise
waste plastic in a big way. It has mobilised nearly 26,000
people for spreading awareness on plastic waste
management. Nearly 18,000 kg of plastic waste has been
collected from across the country through over 61,000
hours of shramdaan. On a pilot basis, NHAI used plastic
waste in laying the top layer of roads in Tamil Nadu and
Kerala.
5
Figure 1: A 600m service road stretch on the BengaluruHyderabad highway using 4% plastic waste
Self-healing asphalt
Road repair and maintenance is a costly job. In fiscal 2020,
MoRTH allocated Rs 3,150 crore for maintenance of roads
and highways, which is 17% higher than the revised
estimates for fiscal 2019. In addition to this, NHAI, National
Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd
(NHIDCL), state public works departments and other road
agencies spend a much larger amount for maintenance. In
order to reduce potholing and cracking of roads, scientists
are developing ingenious and unconventional methods to
improve durability. Rather than improving the strength of
the road, scientists are focusing on asphalt with the ability
to heal itself once damaged.