CE 104 – HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEEING

Chapter 6. Failures, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of

Transportation Infrastructure

motorways to unclassified
Introduction: Road Roadroads
maintenance
to is work that takes place on roads from
Introduction
Road maintenance is work that takes place on roads from motorways to unclassified
roads to ensure they remain strong, safe and efficient. Road maintenance takes many
forms, but the overarching aim is to keep road users safe, manage traffic and maintain
upkeep.

A. FAILURES
Highway pavement is an essential component of the overall transportation system
providing access to various parts of the world and facilitating the movement of
people and goods. Due to its immense importance, it must be well maintained and
timely repaired. Else, several problems may arise, ultimately leading to the failure of
the pavement itself. The pavement failure may occur due to various factors such as
excessive vehicular stress, sunlight exposure, water intrusion, unequal expansion and
contraction due to seasonal changes, etc.

Basic Types of Pavement failure

1. Cracking
2. Po Holes
3. Depressions
4. Corrugation and Shoving
5. Ravelling

1. Cracking

Cracking is one of the most common types of pavement failure. The nature of
the crack itself is fast spreading. Cracking is usually caused due to use of
improper material mix during construction and settling of the subgrade or base
during operation. Several cracking in the pavement are:

Alligator Cracking:

Alligator cracking is the cracking that is associated with load and structural
distresses. These cracks are extensively found at intersections where the vehicles
are stopped for a relatively long period because these cracks start to form when the
sub-grade and base compress due to the excessive imposed wheel load.
a. Alligator Cracking in Flexible Pavement

Causes of Alligator Cracking in Flexible Pavement

1. Weakness in base, surface or sub-grade

2. Thinning of a surface course or base course
3. Poor Drainage
4. Excessive vehicular loads
5. Vehicle stopped for a relatively long period

Repair of Alligator Cracking in Flexible Pavement

a. Determine the primary source of the problem and the best way to repair it.
b. If a problem is seen on the surface course, the crack filler is applied. If failure is due
to weakening of base or sub-base course, cut the affected pavement area into
rectangular or square shapes. Then patch it like a pothole.

b. Alligator Cracking in Rigid Pavement

Causes of Alligator Cracking in Rigid Pavement
a. Weakening of base
b. Poor drainage
c. Poor quality material mix or use.
Repair of Alligator Cracking in Rigid Pavement
1. Full Depth Patching:
It is a widely used method for treating alligator cracks in rigid pavements and
restoring the structural stability and rideability of the pavements.
It includes the following series of steps:
a. Defining repair boundaries:
The boundary of the area to be repaired must be first defined by surveying the
region.
b. Sawing old concrete:
Full-depth saw cuts facilitate the separation of damaged concrete from the adjacent
concrete with minimal damage.
c. Removing old concrete:
Concrete removal can be carried out either by lift out or breakup. Lifting sawed
concrete is faster, requires less labor, and also doesn’t cause any significant damage
to the adjacent layers.
In some cases, lifting concrete can be risky, and in such a situation, the deteriorated
concrete is broken into smaller fragments and removed by backhoe or hand tools.
d. Preparing the patch area:
After removing old concrete, the area to be patched is prepared. If the area contains
water, it must be pumped out and cleaned correctly.
e. Placing and Finishing new concrete:
Placing the new concrete is usually done by ready-mix trucks or other mobile batch
vehicles. Concrete must be evenly distributed and spread. Using the finishing tools,
the placed concrete is finished.

ii. Block Cracking:

Block cracking is another cracking seen on highway pavements that form a box-like
crack on the surface.
This type of cracking is associated with the unusual expansion and contraction
of concrete in the rigid pavement and due to improper mixing or aging of asphalt or
poor quality asphalt in flexible pavement.
Block cracking is mainly caused by shrinkage of the asphalt or concrete and daily
temperature cycling, and it is not load-associated.
i. Block Cracking in Flexible Pavement
Causes
1. Use of improper mix
2. Fine aggregates mixed with low penetration asphalt
3. Poor asphalt binder
4. Ageing of asphalt
5. Temperature cycling

Repair
The quicker this cracking is detected, the easier it becomes to repair.
The sealing method of repair can be used for cracks less than ½ inch or lesser. In
severe cracks, the deteriorated pavement must be removed and replaced by an overlay.

ii. Block Cracking in Rigid Pavement

Causes

1. Use of improper mix

2. Lack of expansion joints in the pavement

3. Temperature cycling
Repair

If the crack is less than 1/2 inch, flexible fillers can be used to fill the cracks.

If the crack is larger than 1/2 inch, the affected section of the road is removed and
replaced by an overlay. Sometimes, joining of the sections with metal plates also can
be done if traffic is low.

To eliminate the problem of block cracking, it is better to provide expansion joints at

regular intervals.

iii. Linear Cracking:

Linear cracking is the common type of crack seen parallel to the roadway.
These are generally associated with fatigue and weak points of the pavement.
It is also known as longitudinal cracking.

Causes of Linear Cracking

1. Pavement fatigue
2. Reflective cracking
3. Poor construction of joints

Repair of Linear Cracking

It can be repaired by sealing or replacement.
For less severe cracks, sealing of the cracks may be done.
For severe cracks, replacement by an overlay may be carried out.
 iv. Edge Cracking:

Edge cracking is the type of crack that is usually formed at the edge of highway
pavements. These cracks are typically associated with the ingress of water in
underlying layers.

Causes of Edge Cracking

a. Lack of support at edges of pavement
b. Poor drainage condition
c. Heavy vegetation
d. Heavy traffic alongside the edge of the pavement

Repair of Edge Cracking

The initial step for repairing the edge cracks is removing the vegetations from the
edges of pavement and fixing all the issues of drainage.
Sealing of cracks can be done to prevent further damage.
 2. Pot Holes:
Potholes are the type of flexible pavement failure that can be seen as small depressions
on the surface of the pavement and can penetrate deep up to the base course.
These are generally associated with infiltration and also results from alligator crack if
not treated properly. Generally, severe alligator cracks that are left untreated create
small fragments of pavement and when vehicles ride over them results in the
formation of potholes.

Causes of Pot Holes

1. Pavement fatigue
2. Untreated alligator cracks

Repair of Pot Holes

The potholes can be repaired by patchwork which includes the following steps:
1. Repair For Concrete Roads
a. Defining repair boundaries:
The boundary of the area to be repaired must be first defined by surveying the region.
b. Sawing old concrete:
Using full-depth saw cuts, the damaged area is first isolated from the remaining area.
Full-depth saw cuts facilitate the separation of damaged concrete from the adjacent
concrete with minimal damage.
c. Removing old concrete:
The removal of concrete can be carried out either by lift out or by the breakup.
Lifting of sawed concrete is faster, requires less labour and also doesn’t cause any
significant damage to the adjacent layers.
In some cases, lifting of concrete can be risky and in such a situation the deteriorated
concrete is broken into smaller fragments and removed by backhoe or hand tools.
d. Preparing the patch area:
After the removal of old concrete, the area to be patched is prepared.
If the area contains water, it must be pumped out and cleaned properly.
e. Placing and Finishing new concrete:
Placing of the new concrete is usually done by ready-mix trucks or other mobile batch
vehicles.
Concrete must be evenly distributed and spread.
Using the finishing tools, the placed concrete is finished.
2. Repair for Flexible Pavements
1. Clean the area along the hole with the broom.
2. Trim it vertically to a regular geometrical shape like square or rectangle.
3. Level the bottom of the hole and remove loose aggregate and foreign materials.
4. Apply tack coat on bottom and sides of holes.
5. Now, apply the patching layer and compact it properly by taping or roller.
6. If the depth of the hole is greater than 7.5cm, Patching layer should be provided in
2 or more layers where each layer should be tamped or rolled properly.
 3. Depressions:
Depression indicates the area on the surface of pavements that have a slightly lower
elevation than the surrounding areas.
They become prominently visible after rainfall due to the accumulation of water.
These are also referred to as birdbath.

Causes of Depressions
1. Uneven thickness of subsequent layers
2. Unequal compaction
3. Foundation soil settlement

Repair of Depressions
In case of severe depression, the asphalt surface has to be replaced while for smaller
depressions patching of the area may be done.
4. Rutting:
Rutting is a type of pavement failure that results in the formation of channelized
depressions particularly in the wheel track of pavement.
Two types of rutting particularly the pavement rutting and subgrade rutting may
occur.
With time, the wheel of heavy vehicles starts to compact the asphalt surface thereby
forming ruts.

Causes of Rutting
1. Lateral movement or consolidation of consecutive layers under traffic load
2. Insufficient layer thickness
3. Lack of compaction
4. Improper mix
4. Moisture infiltration

Repair of Rutting
If minor rutting has occurred, the rut can simply be filled and provided with an overlay.
In case of severe rutting, the damaged area must be lifted out and replaced by a new
layer.
5. Corrugation & Shoving:
Corrugations refer to the distresses that occur at regular intervals in the form of ridges
and valley on the surface of the pavement.
They run along the direction of the pavement itself and are usually less than 5 feet.
Similar distresses that run perpendicular to the traffic is known as shoving.

Causes of Corrugation and Shoving

1. Weak granular base
2. Excessive fine aggregate
3. Excessively rounded aggregate
4. Extensively soft asphalt

Repair of Corrugation and Shoving

It may be repaired by partial or full-depth patchwork as in case of alligator cracking.
6. Ravelling:
It is the type of pavement failure that occurs due to continuous ingress of water thereby
causing degradation of the topmost asphalt layer.
As ravelling progresses, the aggregate particles separate from the surface and leave
behind eroded like patches on the surface of the pavement.

Causes of Ravelling
1. Excessively porous asphalt
2. The untimely placing of asphalt

Repair of Ravelling
A thin hot-mix overlay may be provided. Sealing of the affected areas may also be
effective.
 B. MAINTENANCE
Highway maintenance begins just after the construction, reconstruction or
rehabilitation of the roadway facilities. As defined by AASHTO; “Maintenance is
the preservation and keeping of each type of roadway, roadside, structures and
facilities as nearly as possible in its original condition as constructed or as
subsequently improved the operation of highway facilities and service to provide
satisfactory and safe transportation.”

Objective of Highway Maintenance

1. Highway programs and activities are measured by the amount of expenditures
for construction of new facilities and reconstruction of new existing structure
with the aim of keeping up with the traffic demand.
2. Maintenance has its own role: by giving priority to local, rural and urban
facilities particularly the paving and rehabilitation after the construction has
been completed.
3. Maintenance is focus on the do betterment projects. It includes grading and
paving for short alignment changes, to correct steep grades or sharp curves,
re-surfacing and mulching, planting, flood and erosion control.

Relationship between design, Construction and Maintenance

1. Poor preparation of the base, insufficient slab thickness and poor mixture ratio
will only result to the very expensive road repair. Indeed, management
absorbed the end result of design and construction inefficiency.
2. Poor drainage design will mean erosion or deposition of materials that
requires costly clean up operations.
3. Sharp ditches and steep slopes require costly manual labor maintenance
as compared to flat ditches and slopes hat allow equipment to work at a lower
cost.
4. Narrow road lanes usually forced large and heavy vehicles to travel with one set
of wheels near the edge or off the pavement, giving the maintenance
personnel serious problems in the care of pavements edges and the shoulder.
5. High maintenance cost is the result of poor design or construction
methods. This is the main problem that causes numerous demolitions and
unending reconstruction activities being undertaken by the highway people.

Maintenance calls for periodic and immediate correction of unfavorable conditions. It

involves making the facilities as near the newly constructed or reconstructed
conditions a s possible.
The utilization of manpower is what makes the maintenance very costly. Cost could be
reduced substantially, if maintenance operations are done by the use of
equipment. Unfortunately, instead of using modern equipment as a product of
modern technology, highway Management return to the use of primitive tools like of
traditional pick, shovels, hoe, scythe, axe or machete.
One particular example is the community Employment Development program
(CEDP) with man objective of giving employment to the people of the rural areas.
Large amount of money was spent for the purchase of traditional primitive tools and
for manpower payroll disturbing several millions for northing except for political
gimmicks.
The project was summarily sacrificed when 50% of the appropriation was spent
for labor payroll without accomplishment.

Maintenance in Categorizes into:

1. Road surface maintenance
2. Shoulder and approach maintenance
3. Bridge maintenance
4. Traffic services

Road Surface Maintenance

Unlike construction involving high volume of work, maintenance operation, deals
with small amount of
work at separate locations. Road maintenance requires speed performance to
cause the least possible
disruption and danger to traffic. Maintenance operation requires:
1. For Gravel Roads, blading and periodic re-shaping or resurfacing is a routine
periodic maintenance
activity.
2. For Surface Treatment of low type bituminous pavement, maintenance could be
patching, seal coating,
remixing and relaying.
3. For Slick Asphalt Surface, roughening, burning or non-skid seal is required.
4. For Concrete Road, maintenance could be removal and replacement or filling
of damage areas. Sometimes joint sealing or mid-jacking or undersealing is
relatively common maintenance work

Maintenance of Shoulder and Approach

Maintenance of the shoulder and approaches of the highway is governed by the
surface characteristics in the area.
1. Sod shoulders should be removed and periodically bladed down to the roadway
elevation to avoid entrapment of water in the traveled way.
2. Grass prevents shoulder erosion. If necessary, fertilized, re-seeded, or treated to
keep them in good conditions.
3. Grave and earth shoulder should be maintained by blading under favorable weather
conditions.
4. Rutting or setting of the shoulder should be corrected at once by reconstruction or
re-surfacing.

Maintenance of Roadside
The type and kind of roadside maintenance depends upon the following conditions:

1. If the roadside is full of grass, mowing closer to the shoulder is the answer. If
necessary, grass at the roadside be fertilized or treated with lime. In some areas, re-
seeding maybe required.
2. If the roadside has dry grass considered as fire hazard, burning or plowing is the
solution.
3. If brushes cover the black-slope, trimming is necessary to maintain clearance and
sight distance.

Drainage Maintenance
1. Cleaning of ditches, culvert, drop inlets and catch basins to accommodate free flow
of water.
2. Removal of sediments, braches and other debris gathered at trash racks, culvert
and structures entrances.
3. Repair of eroded channels and dikes.
4. Riprap and bank protection to prevent recurrence.

Bridge Maintenance
1. For steel bridge structure, the routine maintenance calls for cleaning by
sandblasting, flame or means of re-painting.
2. Cleaning and re-sealing of deck joints that are extruded or filled with dirt.
3. Repair of drainage handrails.
4. Re-surfacing of rough or slicky deck surface.
5. Correct serious scour around the pier and abutments.
6. Most bridges maintenance is considered specialized work.
Traveling crews exclusively for bridges work alone is a function of the maintenance
operations.
7. Concrete bridge decks normally deteriorate due to deicing salts. The problem
starts when the sat penetrates and corrodes the reinforcing steel that spall-off the
overlaying concrete.
8. Correction is to remove the concrete, clean the steal and apply new material such as
polymer concrete.
9. Sometimes seal-out or overlay of asphalt materials are used as protective covering.
10. Check the bridge deck deterioration by:
a. Applying waterproof membranes.
b. Applying latex modified concrete.
 c. Impregnating the deck with polymers.
d. Passing electric current through reinforcing steel.
11. If decks are dismantled, an epoxy coated reinforcing steel may be used.

Traffic Service
Maintenance operations of highway includes the traffic services like:
1. Stripping is a continuing function
2. Repair of road signs
3. Maintenance of street and highway light and signals. (sometimes the functions of
the government)
4. Coping up with emergencies. Personnel on patrol to keep the road open and rescue
stranded vehicles.

Maintenance Management
Before, maintenance is regarded as secondary functions of the Highway agency. The
personnel of the maintenance sections.

Often felt that they are regarded as secondary class employees of the Highway
agency. Indeed, the spoil system exist wherein the maintenance positions are used
to pay political favors or buy patronage support.
Today, maintenance and its management are considered the most intricate and ever-
changing highway and technology. Maintenance is now regarded as one of the most
important part of the Highway maintenance program.
Continuous studies have been going focused on the best management, time
utilization, productivity, methods,
and management of maintenance.

Studies showed the need for improvement on the following field.

1. Education is management technique for maintenance Engineers foreman including
its field personnel.
2. More detailed and careful planning and scheduling of work and establishing
standards for the level of maintenance.
3. Major improvement of maintenance tools and equipment.
4. Providing a better and efficient communications.
5. Establishing lines of authority and responsibilities.
6. For the maintenance organization to succeed, staffing with permanent trained and
dedicated personnel
is the solution.
7. Effective management system requires efficient, accurate and fair budgeting and
reporting procedures. But how to implement these, is next to impossible, because
it is difficult to overcome varied administration, and behavioral problems.
Requirements for Maintenance Management
1. To stabilize the standard level of the maintenance by setting performance standards
for workers crew and maintenance units. This requires Methods Time Management
(MTM) expected output for operations that are pre-determined.
2. To develop an accurate monitoring and fair reporting system and to compare
actual work with the expected production.
3. To develop a management system that will give the efficient work scheduling
assignment.
4. To develop effective procedures, methods and machinery or organization to
carry individual maintenance operations
Effective maintenance management could be achieved by gaining the enthusiastic
support of the personnel educating them with the new methods plus acknowledgement
of their efforts through personal recognition and by financial reward for there is a
saying that we cannot live by the love alone.

The roadway to the development in maintenance is still far. While the others
have already gone for advanced, we are just about to begin.

Effective maintenance personal activities are measured under the

following criteria.
1. Personnel who are devoted to the maintenance work are not those who just kill the
time and collect their salaries.
2. Personnel responsibility for keeping the roadway open to traffic moving under all
conditions.
3. Personnel rescue operation in assisting stranded motorists during bad weather,
heavy rain, removal of fallen trees, flood, erosion, etc.
4. Maintenance personnel are exposed to accidents, hazards during their
maintenance or rehabilitation work.
Maintenance personnel deserves to be recognized and rewarded accordingly,
unfortunately, these dedicated people are sometimes victims of neglect especially in
the promotion and increase of salaries.
On some instances, Highway agency is legally held responsible for injury to person or
damages to property resulted from poor highway maintenance. Unfortunately,
employees and supervisors are even charged in court, condemned, and crucified by the
media people prior the hearing of the case
 C. REHABILITATION
Pavement rehabilitation is an activity primarily to provide god riding and skid
resistance or to improve the structural effectiveness of the pavement.
“Resurfacing, restoration and rehabilitation work, restoring to the original
safe usable condition without addition to the original capacity.”

According to AASHTO, the primary objectives of pavement rehabilitations are:

1. To improve the smoothness of the road surface.
2. To extend the pavement life.
3. To improve the skid resistance to the road.
4. To construct the sections with poor foundations.
5. To improve the drainage facilities.

The efficiency of the highway system could be rated by:

1. Sufficiency ratings.
2. Accident data.
3. Skid tests.
4. Maintenance report.
5. Public comments and suggestions.

Resurfacing
Resurfacing is the addition pavement layer over the existing roadway or bridge deck
surface to provide additional capacity. The additional re-surface pavement should not
be less than 20 mm in thickness.

Restoration and Rehabilitation

Restoration and rehabilitation work include:
1. Replacement of defective joints.
2. Repair of spalled joints
3. Substantial pavement work.
4. Reworking or strengthening of sub-base.
5. Recycling existing materials to improve their structural integrity.
6. Adding under drains.
7. Improving shoulders
8. Removing and replacing deteriorated materials.

Pavement Maintenance refers to actions that are corrective or preventive.

Reconstruction refers to the removal of existing pavement and replacing them with
a new pavement and under course.
Overlays could be either by Portland cement or Asphalt concrete laid on an existing
pavement.
Recycling means the repeated use of existing materials working on asphalt materials,
Portland cement or lime.
Generally, recycling contributes to the stabilization of cost conservation due to
inadequate material resources and reduction of energy requirements

Pavement Recycling is Categorize into:

1. The type of materials to be used.
2. The procedure to be employed.
3. The structural benefit to be gained.

The Recycling Procedures could be as follows:

1. Surface Recycling consists of reworking about the top surface of asphalt pavement.
It is applied for the treatment of raveling, wheel truck rutting, flushing and
corrugations. The work includes the use of heater-planer, heater-scarifier, cold
planners and cold milling. The disadvantage of their use is the are the presence of
noise, heat, and air pollution.
2. In place Surface and Base Recycling. This procedure involves pulverizing all
existing pavement, followed by re-shaping, and compacting. Before relaying, the
materials are upgraded with lime, Portland cement or chemicals. This method is used
for both asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavement.
One advantage of this method is the ability to increase the load carrying
capacity of the pavement without major changes in the grade.
3. Central Plant Recycling is the removal materials from the roadway, crushing them,
mixing in the plant then laid and compacted with conventional equipment.

Evaluation and Maintenance of Concrete Pavements

Maintenance decision are based on pavement condition data gathered from
project to project basis. From these gathered data, it is determined which project
calls for maintenance or rehabilitation including the decisions required to correct
pavement deficiencies. Decisions however, are made on a yearly basis.
Considering the increasing length of the roadways, the management on the basis of
field observations alone is becoming difficult hence the objective method of evaluation
was introduced:
1. Those project that need immediate maintenance or rehabilitations are listed on the
priority projects.
2. The type and kind of maintenance or rehabilitation required is specified.
3. What strategy of maintenance or rehabilitation would be adopted now and in the
future to minimize life cycle costs or maximized the net benefits.

Maintenance of Concrete Pavements

As mentioned earlier, maintenance of the roadway of any type is routine
activity. Maintenance of good concrete road could be argued as follows:
1. Sealing cracks of transverse and longitudinal construction and expansion joints
is one recommendation where maintenance Engineers could not agree on one
question whether sealing the narrow cracks is effective or not. The practice
however, is to clean properly wide cracks or spalled joints then applied with
sealing materials to prevent the intrusion of extraneous material, and to
block the downward penetration of surface water.
2. For small and scattered broken surface on good concrete pavement,
patching with concrete is economical. On affected portion old concrete is
removed by vertical straight line cut parallel and perpendicular to the
roadway center-line. For corner repair, the angle from the roadway center-
line should be greater than 30°but less than 60°.
3. Sections that are removed should have a minimum area of 20 square meters. If
the sub-grade appears to be weak, suitable materials and compact properly. The
new concrete slab should be as thick as the original pavement.
4. Good practice demand that extra thickness adjoining the old concrete be
provided extending the patch under the old pavement to width and depth of
1.0 centimeters
 5. Additional cement is necessary to produce high early strength concrete or an
accelerator such as calcium chloride is used for patching if early use of the
pavement is desired. The ideal time to make repair of concrete pavement road
is in the evening.
6. Pavement surface with spall from freezing and thawing or salt action are
levelled with asphalt mixture or surface treatment. Another method is to
patch with concrete bonded to the old concrete with a cement-water or
epoxy.
7. Spalled joint can be repaired with cement grout containing epoxy mixed with
catalys

Mud Jacking
Mud Jacking is a maintenance method adopted to restore the sub-grade support
under pumping pavement and to level uneven slabs. The liquid filler is injected under
the slab through drilled holes. The mud-or slurry, filled all the voids that if
continuously injected applying hydraulic pressure will force the slab upward. Slurry
for mud jacking consists of a mixture of fine grain aggregate, portland cement and
water or an addition of small amount of asphalt. A mixture of one part cement, and
three to four parts of ground limestone, could be used as slurry for mud jacking.

The mixture must pass through the pump without gumming. It must flow readily
under the pavement to the smallest voids. The mixture must harden rapidly
without excessive shrinkage and not becoming hard and brittle.
Take note that the spacing of the holes through the concrete should be palnned
carefully when the slab is to be lifted by pumping slurry into several holes. Frequent
movement of the nozzle is necessary so that the lifting will be in small increment.

Under Sealing
Under sealing is an alternative for mud jacking. Heated asphalt is sometimes used.
The advantage of under sealing is the formation of the asphalt as seal against the
penetration of surface water into the subgrade.
Highway and its Environment
Early road was patterned after the railroad of the same period. The principle behind
the construction of early road is to construct the cheapest roadway that would
serve the traffic under all conditions of weather without regard to its environment.

Roadside development was not included in the program. Shoulders and the right of
way are narrow or no- existing at all. Side slopes were too steep, drainage and
ditches, channels and structures were designed to protect the roadbed without
regard to erosion outside the roadway limit.
These crude practices in road building have brought unslightly conditions and high
maintenance cost until such time that the design standard were gradually modified.
And improved. The later development and improvement of roadways has
incorporated the following features:
1. Pleasing views and surroundings were developed sacrificing a little costs or
distances to enhance driving pleasure.
2. Long sweeping horizontal curves are acceptable than short curve connected by long
tangents.
3. Choppy or broken back grade line were not only flattened but smoothened.
4. In rough areas, the depth of cuts and fill heights were lowered to reduce scare and
slope erosion to a minimum level.
5. Retaining walls are sometimes helpful and improve the attractiveness of the
roadway.
6. Modem highway now provides wide roadbeds, shallow wide gutter and ditches, flat
back slope and cuts, and flat side slope on fill.
7. Top of the cut banks and toes of fills are rounded to blend with the original ground.
These features of the roadway give safer roadbed and a pleasing approach.
Erosion occurs more slowly or prevented on flatter slopes. The result is less expense
for cleaning gutters and ditches. Mowing could be done using power equipment that
substantially reduces maintenance costs. Wider right of way has become a necessity in
roadside development by the following reasons:
1. It allows blending of the road into the natural landscape.
2. It provides space to plant screening in front of unsightly and objectionable
areas and other undesirable objects.
3. It isolated the highway visually from its surroundings and freeing the roadside of
hazards.
Roadside is the entire right of way except the travelled way. In planning roadside
development, planners were conscious of the cost maintenance including the cost of
mowing, trimming and cleaning. Roadside development is sometimes referred to as
roadside beautification made after the road construction is completed. Roadside
development without question provides a more pleasing environment for
travelers, less maintenance cost and safer highways. The roadside development
is under the carc of the Highway agency, although there re-adjacent property
home-owners who sometimes contribute to the beautification of their surroundings
including the roadside itself for aesthetic consideration that they themselves enjoyed.

Highway Beautification
Highway beautification is a broad term that includes activities like:
1. Landscaping and roadside development within the rights of way.
2. Improvement of strips and land adjacent to the highway for restoration,
preservation and enhancement of natural beauty.
3. Acquisition and development of publicly owned and controlled rest area, recreation
areas and sanitary areas including other facilities.

Factors that Contribute to Beautification

1. Good location
2. Good design
3. Construction
4. Maintenance

Environmental Laws
The government had passed enough laws to protect the environment. The
Environmental Laws has the following intent:
1. The government recognizes the impact of man9s activities in relation to all
components of the natural environment more particularly:
a) The influence of population growth
b) The high density urbanization
c) Industrial expansion
d) Resource exploration:
e) The expanding technological advances
f) Restoration and maintenance of environmental quality to the welfare and
development of man.
2. The present generation must fulfill the responsibility as trustees of the
environment for the succeeding generations.
3, To assure all Filipino people of a safe, healthful, productive and aesthetically and
culturally pleasing surroundings.
4. To provide the widest beneficial use of the environment 8without degradation and
risk to health or other undesirable consequences.
5. To preserve some important pre historic, cultural and natural aspect of our
natural heritage and whenever possible an environment which uphold diversity and
variety of individual choice.
6. To maintain a balanced distribution of population and use of resources that will give
high standard of living and wide sharing of life's amenities
7. To impart that all person has the responsibility to contribute to the preservation and
enhancement of the environment.

Environmental Effect of Highways

The main objections of community complaint on environmental effects of
transportations are as follows:
1. Air and noise problem
2. Traffic induced vibration
3. Accidents
4. Annoyance caused by water pollution, dust and dirt.

Air Pollution Control

Air pollution be it from fixed or mobile sources is the main concern in most urban
areas. Air pollution is the result of progress. It comes from discharges into the air of
non-reactive pollutants including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, sulfates, dust,
smoke and lead. The highway pollution problems are of two dimensions. They are:
1 Area wide effects of preliminary reactive pollutants.
2. High concentration of non-reactive pollutants at points or corridors along or near
highways.
 Motor vehicles are mainly the contributor to both forms of pollutants estimated at
70% carbon dioxide, 50% hydrocarbon, and 30% of nitric oxide. The area condition is
acceptably worst when temperature inversions trap pollutants near the ground
surface when there is little wind or no wind at all. Concentration becomes
extremely high affecting human life and even some vegetation are killed, stunted
or the foliage is burned.

Various approaches to reduce area pollutants were planned and employed including
future approaches
such as:
1. By Land Use Control. One example is the limitation and control of industrial-
commercial development where their construction and land use would contribute to
pollution
2. To Lower the Emission. This is by lowering the emission of pollutant from existing
machineries.
3. Modification of the fixed existing facilities such as substituting low sulfur coal to
reduce the release of sulfur di-oxide.
4. Lowering pollution coming from motor vehicles that falls under the following
categories:
a) Reducing the output of pollutants by making them fuel efficient and controlling
pollutant output.
b) Limiting vehicle travel by shifting travelers to other mode using electric current.
c) Cutting fuel consumption and pollutant output by improving traffic flow.
d) A set of standard to be met by new vehicles.

Noise Control
Noise is defined as unwanted sound. Noise is measured in decibels with a
common unit dBA. This single unit combine sound intensities from all frequencies
above 100 per second and strongly react in the human ear. Sound at 1dBA level could
be hardly detected by human ears, but an increase of 10 on the decibel scale
means tenfold increase in intensity. In a quite residential area at night, the
ambient noise is measured from 32 to 43 dBA. The urban residential district at
daytime limit is about 41 to 53 dBA. In industrial areas the range is 48 to 66 dBA,
and in downtown commercial areas with heavy traffic is 62 to 73 dBA.
In terms of conversation or communication. these sound level means that at 65 dBA a
conversation is difficult at a distance of 1.00 meter and at 75 dBA an ear has to be
plugged by a finger in order to hear a telephone conversation.
Transportation noises are complex, studies showed that:
1. Complaints are focused on interference with speech. TV viewing or sleep
related to increase of sound above ambient noise level.
2. Increase up to 9 dBA | complaints would be widespread and there would be
community reactions.
3. Highway noises near residences at peak noise of about 70dBA bring few
complaints, at 75 dBA, complaints are likely and 80 dBA will invite letter of petition
and protest.