In recent years, applications of marginal materials, also called nontraditional (either natural or waste products), have been considered in road construction with great interest in many industrialized and developing countries. The use of nontraditional materials in road making is based on technical, economic, and ecological criteria. The lack of traditional road materials and the protection of the environment make it imperative to investigate marginal materials carefully. India has a large network of steel plants located in different parts of the country and many more are planned for the near future. Several million metric tons of iron and steel are produced in these plants. However, along with production of iron and steel, huge quantities of solid wastes like blast furnace slag and steel slag as well as other wastes such as flue dust, blast furnace sludge, and refractories are also being produced in these plants. The iron ores in India, although rich in iron content, are high in alumina content also and as such the volume of slag generated is very high. Normally production of 1 metric ton (1 Mg) of steel generates 1 Mg of solid waste. Although the steel industry slags have their own unique properties and are exploitable for road works, they have never been put to use on Indian roads because of a lack of scientific studies conducted on these materials, nonavailability of proper design and construction standards on them, and the absence of data about the long-term behavior of these materials. In the absence other outlets, these solid wastes have occupied several acres of land around plants throughout the country. Keeping in mind the need for bulk use of these solid wastes in India, it was thought expedient to test these materials and to develop specifications to enhance the use of slags in road making, in which higher economic returns may be possible. Exhaustive and detailed laboratory investigations have been carried out at the Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, India, to develop suitable specifications for construction of low-volume roads. Based on laboratory investigation results, specifications were developed for construction of low-volume roads in different parts of the country. While specifications were being formulated, attempts were made to maximize use of solid wastes in different layers of the road pavement. Postconstruction pavement performance studies have clearly indicated that these waste materials can be used for construction of low-volume roads with twofold benefits: (a) it will help clear valuable land of huge dumps of slags, and (b) it will also help preserve the natural reserves of aggregates, thus protecting the environment.In recent years, road applications of nontraditional materials (either natural or waste products) have been considered with great interest in many industrialized and developing countries. Use of these materials is based on technical, economic, and ecological criteria. Steel making is strategic to the economy of any nation. India has a large network of steel plants i...
In India there are 0.6 million human settlements scattered all over the country. Forty-eight percent of these villages are connected with all-weather roads and the remaining 52 percent of these villages are yet to be connected with all-weather, black-topped roads. The prevailing construction methodologies that use mechanized implements do not suit the construction of low-volume roads in India due to the high cost of machinery and unavailability of skilled labor and technicians. In view of the above, the present methods of low-volume road construction and maintenance are largely labor-based. These methods are slow and often result in substandard quality of construction. Therefore, it is considered essential to adopt an appropriate man-machine combination. Such an approach will be necessary in the future to improve the standards of construction required for low-volume road infrastructure development and also to meet the accelerated pace of rural developmental activities. Cultivation and farming are the main activities in the villages leading to the availability of farming tractors and other related implements. Since tractors are increasingly available in large numbers in rural areas, it is considered most appropriate to make use of various agricultural implements towed by tractors for the different road construction operations. A survey was made of the existing agricultural implements suitable for carrying out the various road construction operations. Based on results of this study, different farming implements were used for various road construction activities on demonstration projects. The data obtained from these projects were analyzed to determine the technical and economic feasibility of labor-intensive and tractor-towed equipment construction techniques. An economic evaluation of these low-cost road construction techniques was performed to identify relative cost factors. Different low-cost agricultural implements and their possible use in various road construction operations are highlighted. Based on these studies, it is evident that the deployment of tractor-based techniques would result in substantial economy with the added benefit of better-finished quality of work and considerable time-saving in projects.
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