– Concrete or bitumen?

The recent monsoons have been as intensive as those of the past six years, if not more so. And the first casualties have been the roads of the city. Of course, it is a matter of no surprise, given the quality of road-laying that is adopted. It is an open secret that not all the money allocated for such activities ever gets spent on what it is intended for and contractors need to perforce cut corners if they need to make a profit. And given the steadily increasing traffic, these substandard roads are being put to greater pressure and very few roads manage to stand the strain. In the light of this, the new administration in the City Corporation has announced that it would be looking at concrete roads as the panacea.

The announcement was made after the usual accusations (now customary whenever there is a regime change in the State) about the previous regime having allowed the use of substandard materials. And it is now understood that within the next five years, Rs 2500 crore will be spent on laying 1100 km of concrete roads in Greater Chennai. This will be a long-term solution, says the Government, claiming that concrete roads have an average lifespan of at least 25 years. The roads to be thus relaid will be of international standard, promises the Government.

The advantages of switching over to concrete roads are many. Apart from their long life, they also save on fuel, provide for better driving comfort and will use cement, a plentifully available commodity in the country. Maintenance costs will also be lower.

But there are several drawbacks as well. Firstly, concrete roads require a considerably longer period for laying and setting – as much as 28 days for a one-km stretch as opposed to a bitumen topped road that requires one fourth that time. And during the time they are being laid, the roads will have to be completely closed to traffic, something that is unthinkable in this city where work on the Metro is already putting commuters to great hardships. Bitumen roads also cost only one-fourth of the outlay for concrete roads.

Secondly, there is the impossibility of ever digging of concrete roads to access drains and cables, something that is common practice in our city. The avoidance of such road-digging entails proper planning before the roads are laid, with ducts for drains and cables that can be independently accessed. Past experience (MRTS et al) has shown our officialdom of being completely incapable of such coordinated activity.

Thirdly, is concrete road a solution for a city like ours? These roads have no dust absorption capacity and, so, they will only increase the particulate content in the atmosphere. Also, concrete being white in colour these roads will radiate heat, causing the ambient temperature to go up. Is this desirable in a city that is already witnessing a steady increase in temperatures during summer?

It would be good if the Government ponders over these aspects before jumping headlong into this new technology. But given the speed at which matters are moving, it appears that the minds of the powers-that-be are already made up. In the immediate short-term, patchwork has begun on the roads that have been battered by the recent rains. It would do our officers and ministers a world of good to drive around and see what is the ground reality. Once they see the fashion in which patchwork is done and the quality of what has been laid earlier, they may pause to think over whether concrete roads may not be complicating an already difficult situation.