The Delhi government is finally beginning road resurfacing in the Capital. For the first time,the PWD will be using new techniques it had been experimenting with in the past. The re-carpeting process started on Tuesday on Ring Road,close to Hyatt Regency in South Delhi. The 293 lane-km of road will be surfaced using hot in-situ recycling. The project will cost Rs 37 crore. In this technology,around 70 per cent material available in the road is used and only about 30 per cent material is added. The advantage of using this technique is that the thickness of the road surface is raised only by 10 to 15 mm. According to the PWD,the life of such roads is five to seven years. This technique was used on an experimental basis on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road two years ago. The PWD had started experimenting on new road building technologies after 1997 when the Supreme Court banned hot mix plants inside Delhi. With bitumen supply reduced,the PWD had been looking for alternate options. The roads being recarpeted include Ring Road stretches: Raja Garden to AIIMS,Rajghat to Ashram and Ashram to AIIMS; Kisan Ghat,Shahid Jit Singh Marg,Press Enclave Road,Africa Avenue,Rao Tularam Marg,Mathura Road and Captain Gaur Marg. The PWD expects to finish work by June next year. Another 147 lane-km will be resurfaced using micro surfacing technique in which cold bitumen-emulsion is mixed with fine stone aggregates. This mix is then spread over the minor cracks on the road surface. Through this method,life of the road is increased by two to three years. In this technology,the thickness added to the existing surface is almost nil. The other advantage is that these roads will not be affected by rain as the surface is water-proof. A total of 29 km of roads would be built under this technique. It would cost Rs 12 crore. It includes 147 lane-km. The roads included are the Mehrauli- Mahipalpur Road,Nelson Mandela Marg,Vedant Dixika Marg,Africa Avenue Marg,Guru Ravidas Marg,Master Plan Road,Girdhari Lal Goswami Marg among others. Work on these roads will be complete by May next year.
