SUSTAINABLE & ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY APPROACH FOR RURAL ROAD DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Transport infrastructure improvements in rural sector provide greateropportunity to access economic, social & education facilities. This issue isvery crucial since it covers fundamental aspects of rural revitalization. Thelack of acceptable transport infrastructure has led to the isolation of ruralareas. Roads that do not belong to the National & Provincial road network arethe secondary & tertiary road links that provide main access to most ruralpopulation in the country.

Situation in the local government setup is different from the national setup.Even though over 70,000 km of roads belong to local government authorities,budgetary allocation for road works is very minimal. Most of theseunclassified roads are low volume earth or gravel roads and carry less than150 vehicles per day out of which more than 85% are light vehicles such asbicycles, motor bicycles or three wheelers.

Local government authorities tend to allocate available funding to upgradefew gravel or earth roads to paved condition or to rehabilitate dilapidatedpaved roads arbitrary. As no funding mechanism for regular roadmaintenance is available these low volume roads get deteriorated not due tovehicle loading but due to environmental conditions. This arbitrary upgradingstrategy used by local government authorities result in waste of resourceswith not much benefit to rural communities.

This paper attempts to identify sustainable & environment friendly strategiesto upgrade and maintain low volume local roads at a satisfactory conditionfor a longer period. Use of appropriate geometric standards, selection of costeffective construction standards that satisfy the access & mobility needs ofrural population is discussed. Use of locally available material, labour andequipment that provides environment friendly solution are compared &presented.