Gujarat’s new urban road guidelines require municipal corporations to survey roads before and after the monsoon, complete repairs on dangerously damaged stretches within 48 hours and upload repair photographs to their civic applications within 72 hours. The guidelines also set standards for junction design, drainage coordination, hot-mix quality control and speed signage.
Issued by the state’s Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, the guidelines cover roads, streets, junctions and signage in urban areas. Municipal engineering departments have been directed to follow the standards while designing and constructing roads ranging from 8 metres to between 60 and 100 metres in width.
The guidelines require all municipal corporations to conduct road surveys before and after the monsoon. They also place emphasis on road quality and require manholes and drainage-line levels to be corrected after road construction. Repairs to seriously damaged road surfaces are to be completed within 15 days, while smaller patchwork must be addressed within 30 days, according to the report.
For roads considered severely damaged and dangerous to citizens, the repair deadline is 48 hours. Work areas must be barricaded, damaged surfaces cleaned and bitumen emulsion applied appropriately. The guidelines also mention cold-emulsion injection and infrared recycling as technologies that may be used for repairs. After work is completed, photographs must be uploaded to the relevant municipal corporation application within 72 hours.
Road resurfacing, regrading and milling will require a joint site visit by officials and the design consultant. Municipal bodies must survey underground water lines, drainage systems, stormwater lines and other utilities, and include the details with the project estimate. Older drainage or stormwater lines and manholes that repeatedly fail must be rehabilitated or strengthened before the road is built, the guidelines state.
The standards also prescribe additional controls for roads made using hot-mix asphalt. Before work begins, the contractor and project management consultant must submit a quality assurance plan for approval by the competent authority. A quality-control official must be present at the hot-mix plant and paving site. Records must be maintained for the quantity of hot-mix, the time it leaves the plant, its arrival time at the site and its temperature.
Material that does not meet the required standards must not be sent to the site or reused. The road surface must be cleaned before hot-mix is laid, the material must be spread at the correct temperature and the approved thickness must be maintained. Officials have also been instructed to check road levels and gradients and to send materials for laboratory testing. Care must be taken to prevent damage to manholes, valve chambers and catch pits during construction.
Junction design is another focus of the guidelines, particularly at intersections where traffic volumes are high. Municipalities have been asked to prepare junctions with citizen safety in mind and install signage at suitable heights and locations where it can be clearly seen. Speed-limit signs indicating 30 kmph on roads in designated areas and up to 50 kmph on main roads have been specified in the report. Different colours of signboards are also to be used to improve public visibility.
The guidelines place responsibility on municipal engineering departments, contractors, project management consultants, design consultants and quality-control officials at different stages of road delivery. Municipal commissioners have directed engineering departments to carry out road works in accordance with the standards.
