LOW COST SEALING

OF LOW VOLUME
ROADS
RTI PROGRESS REVIEW
WORKSHOP
30 JUNE 2016
SAMUEL KISIRA; MILTON HAUMBA MELTC

Definitions

Low Cost Sealing is the appropriate

sealing of low volume roads while
optimizing the use of locally available
materials and labour;
Low Volume Roads are defined as roads
carrying less than 300 vehicles per day
and with less than 1 Million Equivalent
Standard Axles; the latter taking
preeminence.

Problem Statement

Over 90% of Ugandas road network is unpaved;

Gravel, the material used both for pavement layers and
surfacing of unpaved roads, is getting depleted;
As a result haulage distances for gravel are getting longer
with time, resulting in increase in cost of gravel associated
road interventions;
With the countrys increasing population, the demand and
hence competition for land for various purposes has
significantly increased, consequently the value of land has
gone high;
Option would be to upgrade the gravel roads to paved
standard but the unit cost of doing this conventionally has
gone very high.

Introduction

Ugandas road network comprises of:

National Roads (21,000 kilometres);

District Roads (32,000 kilometres);
Urban Roads (13,000 kilometres); and
Community Access Roads (85,000 kilometres)

Roads are the dominant mode of transport for

both freight and passengers and thus play a vital
role in the economy of the country;
It is the mandate of the Ministry Works and
Transport to deliver safe and reliable engineering
works, transport infrastructure and services.

Paved road network

The paved road network:

National roads 3,795km (18%); -NDP II

District roads 46km (0.14%); - RTI Report
Urban roads 2122 km (19.6%) NDP II

Over 90% of the total road network is unpaved;

Currently one of the key maintenance
interventions on unpaved roads is re-gravelling
using natural gravel;
This gravel can stay on the road for about 3 5
years after which re-gravelling is again required.

Gravel loss
Varriation of Gravel thickness with time
150
100
Gravel Thickness
50
0
1

10

11

12

13

14

years

The total unpaved road network of National and

District Roads is 48,979 (92.4%);
Assuming that all these were to gravel standard,
and that 30mm of gravel is lost per year, annual
gravel loss would be 6,594,000m 3;
This quantity can gravel 13,737 km of district roads.

15

Causes of gravel loss

Traffic: Traffic causes loss in two ways:

The

tyre impact breaks down gravel particles into dust

which is later blown away by wind; and
Gravel particles are displaced to the side of the road
into the road side drains;

Storm water: Rain water washes the loose

gravel materials into the side drains;
Terrain: Where the gradient is high (>6%),
storm water has a high scouring effect because
of increased runoff speed; and
Wind: Wind blows away the dust from the road.

Suitability of gravel roads

The gravel surface is appropriate and cost effective

only in specific circumstances such as:

Sufficient quantities gravel is available that meet the

required specifications;
Haul distances are relatively short;
The cost of gravel material is low;
Longitudinal gradients are less than 6%;
Rainfall is low or moderate;
Traffic is relatively low;
Dry season dust emission is not severe;
Finance and other resources are available for the required
periodic (re)gravelling and routine maintenance.

Challenges with gravel

roads

However, the above suitability criteria are not often

met:

Gravel is a finite material and is getting depleted;

Haulage distances are progressively increasing;
The value of land has increased and continues to increase;
With increasing traffic, the rate of gravel wear is
increasing resulting in short re-gravelling intervals;
Rainfall patterns have changed due to climatic changes;
Human settlement has increased along the roads and
need protection from dust; and
Finances are not always there meaning it is a challenge
maintaining a large network of gravel roads.

Need for alternative

surfacing

As noted from above, the continued use of gravel

for surfacing of unpaved roads is unsustainable;
The alternatives are to either use a different
material such as crushed aggregates, pavers etc.
or use gravel but provide a seal to protect it from
wearing and hence prolong the life of the road;
The later option has proved to be the most cost
effective and from research conducted in several
countries especially in the SADC region, many
unconventional options of sealing have been
developed

Constraints of providing paved roads using

traditional approach
The traditional methods of designing and constructing paved
roads have proved to be very expensive basically due to:
Restrictive specifications: The traditional specifications in use
were developed for high volume roads. Further they were
adopted from those developed in temperate regions that
have different conditions from the ones in our country. These
specs eliminate the use of many of the locally available
materials;
Due to its relatively high cost it has not been possible to
economically justify paving roads with traffic levels less than
300 vehicles per day (low volume roads);
There has been limited local capacity to construct paved
roads. Most of the contractors are international contractors
who come with high overhead and foreign currency costs.

Paving of low volume roads using low cost

sealing approach

Through research carried out in the SADC countries;

standards and specifications have been developed for low
volume roads, which allow for use of locally available
materials and use of labour in the construction of paved
roads;
Low volume roads have generally been defined as those
carrying traffic of both less than 300 vehicles per day and
less than one Million Equivalent Standard Axles (MESA)
Use of locally available materials and labour based
methods for construction have generated a lot of benefits
and also lowered the cost of constructing a paved road
Accordingly, it is now justifiable to pave a road with traffic
below 100 vehicles per day

How the low cost come

about?

Design of Pavement: The traditional design of road

pavements is based on soaked values of subgade
CBR. However, for LCS pavement design, the instu
CBR measured using DCP is utilized. This results in a
thinner pavement;
The material specification envelope is broader and
many of the locally available materials can meet the
requirements for most of the Low Volume Roads;
Utilization of locally available materials reduces the
cost of haulage and processing of materials;
The construction approach allows for use of labour
based methods hence reducing the cost of machinery.

Comparison of Low Volume Design and

Conventional designs

Compare designs of the pavement with

sub grade soils S3 and traffic level 0.5
MESA
Conventional
Design

Low Volume
Design
175mm

G65, PI < 9

150 mm GB1 - GB3, CBR 80,

PI < 6

150 mm G30, PI < 12

250 mm
150 mm

G15

GS, CBR 30, PI

<6

Comparison of Low Volume Design and

Conventional designs cont.

Low volume road designs, if the existing alignment is

maintained, the existing pavement usually satisfies
the requirement of the G15 layer;
In that way, only the sub base and base are
provided;
Further, when using the DCP for design, the subgrade class is usually higher, say S4 in the above
example, compared to when the soaked conditions
are used;
Accordingly, a thinner pavement is provided, for the
above example, the design would as shown in the
next slide

Comparison of designs
175mm G65, PI < 9

200 mmG30, PI < 12

What is more, based on the DCP results, the existing

pavement, provided the alignment has been
maintained, could have some strength and hence
the thickness of the sub base can be further reduced.

Indicative Costs of sealing

LVRs

Indicative VAT inclusive cost for sealing LVRs using

Low cost sealing approach is between UGX
250,000,000 480,000,000 per Kilometre (4.5m
carriageway width) depending on the seal option;
However, for roads in busy business centres where
lining of the side drains may be required, the
indicative cost ranges between UGX 400,000,000
and UGX 600,000,000;
From the main contracts in the districts, mostly
Single Surface Dressing has been applied and the
cost per km (4.5m wide carriageway) ranged
between 230 350 millions

Sealing Options
Several sealing options are available including:

Penetration Macadam;
Otta Seal;
Single Surface Dressing with sand capping;
Single Surface Dressing;
Cold Premix; and
Sand/Quarry dust seal

All these options utilize bitumen (emulsion apart from

otta; though trials on-going) and aggregates but the
difference is in the quantities and grading;
The requirements for the road base are nominally the
same for the different options.

Some of the seal Options

Cold Premix under

construction

Otta Seal under

construction

Road Base Construction

Manual Lime stabilisation

Benefits of sealing low volume roads using

LCS approach

Provides an all weather road;

Reduced life cycle maintenance cost;
Possible to seal longer road length due to relatively lower
unit cost;
Reduced environmental degradation resulting from
exploiting gravel quarries;
Enhanced local capacity to construct paved roads;
Reduced foreign exchange costs;
Ability to seal roads that otherwise would not qualify for
sealing
Creation of employment for the local people; and
Reduced demand for land.

Stakeholders/Sensitization Workshop

These options have been laid in the trial contracts

managed under MELTC in the U-growth districts as well
as in the main contrats; as has been highlighted in the
reports before
There is a 2-Day Workshop in Soroti on 7th and 8th July
2016;
During this field visits will be conducted to a number o
Accordingly those invited are really encouraged to
attend and keep time so that the workshop attains its
objectives.
Thank you for Listening.
For God and my country