Roadway routine maintenance

Hi, how are you? nice to meet you again, hope you are healthy and free from COVID-19 which is widely discussed in the world today. As I mentioned in a previous post that yesterday was a very busy day and for some reason today it has become more relaxed and today I would like to share a little experience and a little knowledge about how road maintenance is currently my field, it might be a little different from my previous post, please enjoy.

Did you know that the road you take every day also needs to be maintained and rehabilitated?
Actually, any construction work that has been completed does not mean that it is actually finished, because after the work is handed back to the work-owner, the next stage is time for maintenance and renovation. one sector of construction work that consistently and continuously does that is a road and bridge sector.

All have different usage times, just like roads, each design is estimated to have a maximum usage period, so sometimes construction of roads that we are already out of use so that we find many damaged such as potholes, roadsides that go down, gravel that is separated from asphalt surface and so on.

But there are also roads that are damaged before the maximum usage period finished. This could be due to work done by the contractor carelessly, such as reducing an amount of material, unsuitable work methods and so on, but it could also be due to the initial design that was not in accordance with the location of work, it could be that a design team did not take into account the strength of the soil's durability, wrong road type and so on. and there is also road damage due to road resistance that is not comparable to what should be accepted, for example, a road that is designed and already done should only be passed by vehicles with a maximum weight of 3 tons but be induced to be passed by heavier vehicles.

Examples of road damage that often occurs.

^{Surface stripping, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}
Surface stripping as shown above usually results from a surface of asphalt being too thin, asphalt temperature does not reach 120 celsius and the compaction process is not perfect, causing the asphalt not to bind to each other. If this condition continues, it is certain that the age of proper use will be reduced and could cause accidents for road users.

^{Potholes and waterlogged, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

Continuous stagnant water on the road surface will also damage the road construction so that the road surface changes and potholes and if not treated immediately, the hole will get bigger.

^{Erosion, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

Road erosion can occur due to unstable subgrade conditions, in this condition, the road will become more dangerous for users because in addition to differences in surface height there is also separate gravel which can cause users to slip.

^{Cracked, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

Cracks can occur due to earthquakes that cause the ground surface to move or can also occur due to extreme temperature changes quickly, cracks can also occur due to continuous heat and so on, there are several types of cracks that we are familiar with, including smooth cracks, crocodile cracks ( cracks like crocodile skin grooves) and so on.
Just like other types of road damage, which if cracked is left without serious handling it will make the road potholes, eroded, and so forth. so it can be concluded that cracking is an early symptom of road damage

Actually, there are still many types of road damage that often occurs such as, distortion, wear, bubbling, and deformation.

Road maintenance process
Before on-site activities are carried out, surveyors first list which roads need to be repaired, then the design team will draw, calculate the costs needed and hand it over to a responsible officer.

^{The survey team is collecting data on road sections that need to be repaired, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

^{The notification board is located at a job location, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

The first responsibility that must be completed before work is to install a sign that there is a road renovation.

^{Workers are lifting the surface of asphalt, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

Asphalt surfaces that have been marked by the survey team will be removed, holes that have been formed are then cleaned of various materials that can interfere with the road structure in the future.

^{Road pits that have been cleaned, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

^{Road Patching, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}

Potholes that have been cleaned and then patched with new asphalt, as I mentioned above that the asphalt temperature must be above 120 Celcius, then workers leveling a road surface and compact it with a mini compactor, the type of compacting machine is used depending on the needs of a field, to patch a small hole we just use a mini compactor.

^{Road that has been rehabilitated, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}
The task of road maintenance services is to keep the useful life of the road longer and to minimize the occurrence of traffic accidents

^{Overtime until it dissolves, Image source @kharrazi smartphone}
Sometimes we are forced to work overtime into the night, because if the asphalt temperature that has not been spread down, the asphalt can no longer be used because asphalt properties no longer bind to each other.

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Conclusion
Routine road maintenance is needed to minimize the increasing damage a road, actually besides avoiding accidents also minimize repetitive work that requires a lot of costs.

Roads are one of the supporting means of transportation needed to improve various sectors such as education, economy, health, and others. If a road is damaged, it should be repaired immediately because in addition to causing the sectors that I mentioned above decreased to decline also can endanger the users.

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This is all that I can write, thank you for stopping by and staying healthy, see you around.

^{Reference:
www.wikipedia.com-Asphalt}

Regards @kharrazi