Mumbai: The BMC should concretise roads during the night to shield workers from humid weather and traffic congestion, suggested experts from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) in a brainstorming session arranged for the civic road engineers at Powai on Saturday. The discussion was attended by more than 150 engineers who shared their views regarding the challenges encountered during the construction of cement concrete roads in Mumbai.
The engineers highlighted various obstacles, including the distance between the cement concrete road site and gravel-carrying vehicles, as well as ready mix concrete plants, traffic congestion, and unpredictable weather conditions in Mumbai. They also drew attention to the city’s geographical conditions and traffic congestion that decreased the volume of water in the cement-gravel mixtures.
Obtaining permissions from the traffic police for road works and the city’s extensive network of manholes posed challenges in implementing specific technologies, the engineers complained. Professor Dr KV Krishna Roa from the IIT-B’s department of architectural engineering, said, “Incorporating best practices and standards in design to address expansion of joints is crucial to ensure the construction of robust and long-lasting roads.” He offered guidance on selecting suitable technology based on factors like crack formation in the expansion of joints, spacing between road joints and the intensity of traffic.
Professor Dr Solomon Debbarma led discussions on what caused the cracks in cement concrete roads and the potential measures to mitigate them. Abhijeet Bangar, Additional BMC Commissioner (Projects), said that the objective was to ensure that the roads have a lifespan extending beyond the typical defects liability period of 10 years to at least 20 years.
