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New Delhi: The ministry of road transport and highways (Morth) is planning to introduce new \u2018policy\u2019 to relay national highways that have worn out due to climatic factors and excess vehicular load.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Under the plan to strengthen India’s 146,145-km national highway network, a new technology called whitetopping is being examined. It is used for layering worn out bitumen roads with shallow concrete mix to make them stronger and last longer\u2014by over 20 years\u2014without the need for frequent repairs.<\/p>\n
Indian roads, including some major highways, are notorious for their potholes\u2014 the outcome of shoddy construction and cutting corners\u2014that appear whenever it rains heavily. These potholes and cracks from the hot summer disrupt traffic, and cause delays and frequent accidents. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the government document does not mention it, poor maintenance is also a major factor in the condition of Indian roads and highways.<\/p>\n
The life cycle cost of the new technology is low compared with bituminous re-surfacing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The draft policy, \u2018Use of Whitetopping Technology for rehabilitation\/strengthening of National Highways\u2019, has been released for stakeholder consultation and will be finalized and announced later this year, said a person aware of the development.<\/p>\n
The new policy identifies priorities for where whitetopping repairs are to be made. \u00a0<\/p>\n
First, repairs would be carried out in those highway sections which face de-notification as national highways with NHAI providing parallel better and broader road connections.<\/strong> Here, a one-time improvement will done prior to handing over the national highway to state government. These repairs will also cover those stretches where lane addition is not envisaged for at least 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Priority for whitetopping would also be given to those stretches where bitumen repairs have not worked because of traffic load, high temperatures and rainfall.<\/p>\n Whitetopping is defined as a concrete overlay constructed on the top of an existing in-service bituminous pavement. They extend the lifespan of the road by 20-25 years; are cheaper to lay; last longer in high rainfall areas and absorb less heat.<\/p>\n \u201cIndia has presently about 1.46 lakh km length of National Highways (NH) network. As we are building more and more 2\/4\/6 lane national highways and expressways, the quantum of aged asset is increasing which warrant rehabilitation to extend its life further. Flexible pavement (paving) constitutes the most important and largest component of ageing NH network which can support white topping technique. Therefore a policy is now being framed to make thin whitetopping (concrete thickness of 100-200 mm) standard for highway rehabilitation and strengthening,” said the person quoted above.<\/p>\n Questions sent to Morth remained unanswered at press time.<\/p>\n The new policy is also expected to help monetize highway assets as better quality of roads with lower maintenance will help in providing a higher value to assets. Under the national monetization pipeline, road and highways have been given the highest target of monetizing core assets worth \u20b9<\/span>1.6 trillion by FY25. MoRTH had already monetized assets worth \u20b9<\/span>1.08 trillion since FY19 and is looking at adding another over \u20b9<\/span>60,000 in FY25 to achieve its target.<\/p>\n The new policy would also specify good design and construction practices based on global best practices and guidelines already framed by the Indian Roads Congress.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nWhat is whitetopping?\u00a0<\/h2>\n