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Micro-surface Roads To Come Up In City
Posted by Pradeep Sadanapalli | October 23, 2008 | 704 views
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Loading ...Very soon, the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad will be dotted with micro-surface roads. Apart from being water-proof and durable, these roads are known to address the surface wheel-rutting problem.
With the micro-surface roads laid on certain stretches and flyovers in the twin cities delivering encouraging results, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to extend the technology to the Inner Ring Road (IRR) as well.
Micro-surfacing, used throughout the United States, Europe and Australia, is now making inroads into a few Indian cities.
The GHMC has proposed improving, strengthening and laying of micro-surfacing on 150 feet IRR from Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, to the Tarnaka junction so as to ensure time-saving and cutting down on the vehicle operating cost for the traffic using the Raj Bhavan Road, Begumpet, Airport, Regional Passport Office, Secunderabad Railway Station, Cantonment, Jubilee Bus Station, Marredpally, Tarnaka, Sitaphalmandi, Habsiguda and Uppal areas.
This road has also been identified as one of the important connectivity roads to the International Airport. An amount of about Rs 36 crore has been sanctioned and orders issued a few days ago.
The placement of a micro-surfacing system on medium to high traffic roads offers a competitive alternative to traditional methods of restoring surface characteristics of roadways and extending the life of the pavement.
Senior GHMC officials told to this website’s newspaper that micro-surfacing was a polymer-modified coldmix paving system that could address a broad range of problems on today’s roads, streets and highways. It begins as a mixture of densegraded aggregate, asphalt emulsion, water and mineral fillers. It is applied to existing pavements by a specialised machine, which carries all components, mixes them on site, and spreads the mixture onto the road surface.
The maximum size of the aggregate is between 8 mm and 9 mm and it is always 100 per cent crushed.
Materials are continuously and accurately measured, and then thoroughly combined in the micro-surfacing machine’s mixer. The surface is initially dark brown in colour and gets the finished black look as the water is chemically ejected and the surface cures, permitting traffic within an hour in most cases.
According to the officials, the advantages of micro-surfacing include skid resistance and surface restoration. Unlike traditional BT roads, the micro-surface road’s lifespan usually exceeds by five to seven years.
They said oxidisation of the bituminous surface material led to surface defects as well as cracks. By sealing the pavement using micro- surfacing, the rate at which the existing bituminous surface material oxidises is greatly reduced.
SOURCES:
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Topics: Innovations, Infrastructure |
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