Highway Construction Basics

1
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION
The construction of all roads are carried out in two phases
1.Earthwork and preparation of Subgrade.
2.Construction of pavement
1.Earthwork and preparation of Subgrade: According to alignment of road and topography of the area Subgrade should be prepared either
in embankment or in cutting.
1.1. Embankment: Finish road level is above the adjacent or surrounding ground levels. Steps
of construction are
- Clearing and grubbing
- Stripping and storing up top soil
- Placing of embankment
- Rolling
- Finishing
1.2. Cutting: Finish road level is below the adjacent or surrounding ground levels. Steps of
construction are
- Soil is cut
- Removal and dumping on spoil bank.
- Subgrade is brought to desired grade
- Camber is compacted.
Equipment used for rolling or compaction
Working principle of a roller is to apply total pressure, which is slowly increased and then
decreased.
Types of rollers are
a) Smooth wheeled roller
b) Pneumatic tired roller
c) Sheep foot roller.
d) Impact and vibratory roller
a. Smooth wheeled roller
*. Three wheeled (gross weight, 4-18 tones)
*.Two wheeled, tandem (gross weight 1-14 tones)
*. Compaction is from top to bottom.
*. Suitable to all soils, preferably granular soil and pavement materials of various types.
b. Pneumatic tired roller
*.It consist of small truck with more than two axles on which pneumatic wheels are mounted.
*. Suitable for non-plastic silts and fine sand.
*. Slight kneading action is produced to compact soil.
c) Sheep foot roller
*.It consists of hollow cylinder with projected feet.
*. Filling drum with wet soil can increase weight of roller.

*. Width,size and shape of feet can be varied.
*Tractor is required for pulling it.
*.It is recommended for clayey soil.
*. Thickness of soil is kept 5 cm more than length of each foot.
*. Compaction is done from lower to upper part.
*. 24 or more passes are usually required.
*. To get proper surface finish top layer is compacted by smooth wheeled roller.
d) Impact and vibratory roller.
*.It is smaller in size.
*. More useful in coarse-grained soil.
*. It is used where it is not possible to take big roller such as abutment of bridges.
MACHINERY USED FOR CUTTING:
Typical application of highway construction equipment
Equipment type
Typical uses
Bulldozer units
Ripping and loosening of rocky earth in preparation for excavation
Rubber tired tractor
Earth moving operations digging ,loading ,transporting, dumping
scraper units
and spreading earth material
Shovel
Excavation at or above existing ground level in firm or hard
material, e.g., excavating material from cut slope.
Back hoe
Excavation below existing ground level in firm or hard material, as
in digging trenches.
Crane with clam shell
Placing and handling aggregates at a stock pile; dredging
operations.
Crane with dragline
Excavation at or below existing ground level in soft material.
Crane with hook block
Lifting various heavy objects.
TYPES OF PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION: The word pavement can be defined as a layered structure placed over the soil Subgrade for
forming a road.
i) Earthen road
ii) Bricks road
iii) Macadam roads
iv) Surface treatments
v) Plant mix
vi) Cement concrete road
i) EARTHEN ROAD
It is a low cost road and is constructed with soil available at Site.
ii) BRICKS ROAD

Bricks have been used for paving streets and over a number of years in Pakistan, especially for
village roads, still some of the streets in old Lahore, are made up of Bricks.
III) MACADAM ROADS
Mc Adam was a Scottish engineer who introduced in the early nineteenth century the idea of
constructing roads composed of small size stones held together by means of binding material.
With the advent of bituminous material s, the term Macadam was qualified by
Water bound macadam, if stones are held together by means of water and filler.
Dry bound macadam if aggregates are held together by means of mechanical
interlock, Penetration macadam if a bituminous material is sprayed over the stones
and allowed to penetrate into the course and Premix macadam if the bituminous
material is mixed with aggregate prior to laying.
IV) SURFACE TREATMENTS
Application of one or more thin layers of bituminous material placed on any kind of road
surface, usually less than 1 thick is called surface treatment. It is provided for dust free
pavement, waterproof layer, protect base course, increase skid resistance, enliven old pavement
and add strength.
V) PLANT MIX
A mixture of well graded aggregate and bitumen prepared at central mixing plant ,transported to
site, laid and compacted at or near ambient temperature.
VI) CEMENT CONCRETE ROAD
The use of cement as a binder in a construction of road, it may be plain cement concrete road or
reinforced concrete.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS
Water bound macadam roads:
Preparation of Subgrade.
Lateral confinement
Spreading of coarse aggregate(90-25 mm size)
Dry rolling (6-10 tones)
Application of screening with brooming and rolling.
Wet rolling
Application of filler(binding) material with plenty of sprinkled water(having
PI not greater than 9)
Finishing of surface
Opening to traffic.

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What are the different types of rollers used for compaction and their uses?

What machinery is typically used for cutting earthworks?

1

*. Filling drum with wet soil can increase weight of roller.

ii) BRICKS ROAD

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