Million dollars worth of INDIAN ROADS

Million dollars worth of INDIAN ROADS

Americas ex president Mr J.F.Kenady said

 "IT IS NOT BECAUSE AMERICA IS RICH THE ROADS ARE GOOD BUT ROADS ARE GOOD THE AMERICA IS RICH"

This article is dedicated to 

Mrs Neela Indulkar Mayor Thane Municipal Corporation

Mr.K.D.Lala City Engineer  TMC

Mr.Vilas Samant TMC corporatar

FOR 

COMPLETION OF TEN YEARS OF  UTWT roads in Thane city

Thane Municipal Corporation with  Material scientist Dr. Deshmukh laid UTWT(Ultra thin white topping) road at Ghantali Thane in the year 2007.The surface of the road is with out any pothole even at year 2016.

At 2007 the roads of Thane city were very  bad.It was a state of chaos .Most of the city roads are of Bituminous macadam.The city is known for Industries in and around the city. load on the roads have increased many fold but the quality of the roads remain the same due to which the roads cracked.Politicians, Engineers and social activist were looking for alternate solution for BM roads 

The same year my proposal of UTWT topping on the potholed road was rejected by the Municipal Corporation on the pretext that the technology is not  proven and tested on Thane roads and therefore it will be waste of time and money.They were  

After sixty six years of independence we are still having such a  low self esteem.

It is always said that   Luck favors the braves

Mr. Vilas Samant came to my help.He  wrote an article in news paper Times of India saying Dr. Deshmukh  residence of Thane claiming that he has UTWT technology which can drastically improve the life of the road should be given an opportunity to experiment his new ideas which can enhance the life of existing roads. Finally TMC on media pressure has agreed and allowed Dr. Deshmukh to conduct the trail on condition that experiments to be conducted in Mr Samant ward and the  expenses to be  born by Mr Samant from his fund which Mr Samant has agreed

The mind set of the TMC engineers in 2007 were very much negative According to them the concrete roads are costly and takes longer time for construction.The thickness required is 300 mm and takes at least a month to complete the job.Every body local people,Corporators. engineers were fed up with Bitumen macadam roads.

The situation was ideal for Dr. Deshmukh to carry out something never done before in Thane  Mean while Dr. Deshmukh has studied and made in the laboratory concrete of M-60 grade by manipulating the raw mix  design.He has developed HPC high performance concrete with less quantity of cement and incorporation of mineral additives like GGBS and flyash.

India needs power for industrial growth In our country most of the power is generated by burning the coal in thermal power plant emitting large amount of flyash which pollutes surrounding area,crops and health of the locals.Dr,Deshmukh can able to make M-60 grade concrete using 360-380 kg/M3 of cement and mineral additive like flyash. He has first time used self compacting concrete in road making as a result the speed of making concrete roads has increased. Dr. Deshmukh laid UTWT road first in Thane in the year 2007. HPC (High performance concrete) and SCC  (Self compacted concrete) is used. 


scc concrete when  brought at sight and poured it on damaged  bituminous roads. there was a joy  on every bandies face of first time witnessing flow able concrete but a daut in mind of strength gain because of h/igh W/C ratio which is not the case The flowable concrete is achieved by polymer base admixture  and not by water 
The another high light of the technology is curing/cutting of the concrete ,The concrete is cut at 1 meter by 1 meter.The width  of the cutting blade should be 3mm because of which the sealant is not required.The curing of the concrete to be carried out immediately after concrete is laid. The performance of the road was excellent as a result TMC has taken a decision to make city roads with this technology
1)Mill 25-50mm top surface of the damaged bituminous road .Remove all the loose material If there  is any structural damage remove that portion and replace with new materials
2)After removing the loose particles saturate the surface with water
3)Fix the metal Chanel of required height most of the time 100mm or 150mm. Maintain the slope and the level.
The procedure for making UTWT roads was standardized and is as follows
4)Bring the concrete from near RMC plant.level the concrete with screed vibrator
5)Curing with water should be started immediately
6)Cut the joints 1meter by 1meter.
The road is ready for traffic in 72 hours.Thane 
Municipal Corporation has taken the decision to do the city roads with UTWT only.Last 10 years UTWT roads are laid in thane city.The traffic scenario of the city has changed and it is growing with speed.