Bangalore: The use of recycled asphalt for re-surfacing city roads has been recommended by an expert committee to the Government. In effect, an existing asphalt layer will have to be removed, melted down and layered again, preferably more evenly.

The expert committee appointed by the Karnataka High Court, headed by Raja Rao in its latest report, has advised the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) against repeatedly covering up existing road surfaces with more asphalt. The committee was constituted to check the quality of roadworks.

The committee noted that going on laying more asphalt over the existing road surface periodically raised the height of the road and during rains, could lead to problems of drainage. The BMP had also not specified any guidelines for renewal of road surfaces. While framing any guidelines, the civic body should recycle and use asphalt layers, it was recommended.

The committee had recommended earlier too that the sub-base conditions of roads should be taken into consideration as the load-bearing capacity of the roads and their ability to withstand rain, depended on it. An investigation down to the basic foundation was necessary before deciding on additional layers of asphalt when roads were being upgraded in newer layouts.

Another recommendation has been for a mobile lab to carry out quality checks on roads under construction or resurfacing and for smaller vibratory rollers instead of the large road rollers to patch up potholes. Besides saving on costs, these measures together are expected to speed up work while maintaining quality. The mobile lab would further help in this process.

Potholes

The committee noted that while potholes were regularly filled and patched up, they did not last beyond the next rainy season in the absence of using appropriate material and equipment. On the whole, the lack of adequate equipment, machinery and instruction manuals and quality parameters had reduced the efficiency of engineers and inspection staff, the panel felt.

Besides quality checks and use of proper equipment, pooling of engineering resources among various divisions coming under the civic body's jurisdiction was recommended.

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