The influence of management and construction methods in the repair costs of Spain’s low-volume road network

Abstract

This paper describes the entire process of the implementation of the Spanish low volume road network, including the design criteria, the construction techniques and the management policies during all the periods. The current situation of low volume roads in Spain was analysed with respect to the legal framework and their actual condition. In addition, the budget required for the repair of 41 low volume roads throughout Spain was calculated in order to statistically analyse the influence of the pavement materials and the period of construction. The main conclusions were that low volume roads constructed during the 1970's are currently those in the best state of repair and those requiring the lower repair costs, even lower than those constructed after 1980's. In addition, low volume roads constructed with higher quality materials and using standardised techniques required five times lower repair costs than those made of lower quality materials.

Ground improvement using waste shell for farm roads and embankments

“…Removing the soft soil and replacing it with stronger material such as crushed rock or other recycled materials is well known as a technique to improve subgrade soils (Senol et al, 2006;Choudhary et al, 2010). In an investigation carried out in Spain, it was found that the utilisation several types of stabilised materials for low volume roads had a significant on repair costs due to durability (Gallego et al, 2016). There are many types of stabilised materials one of which is recycled material, which has been recently used in subgrade soil to replace traditional earth material for the purpose of environmental sustainability.…”