Evaluation of Possible Sustainable Solutions to Road Defects in Karachi

Abstract:

Road defects are inevitable in the infrastructure of any city but its effects on the safety of road users and overall economy vary. There are several factors which contribute towards the magnitude and frequency of such defects and how much human and financial loss they incur. Finding suitable solutions to these road defects which are cost effective as well as sustainable are necessary. This study aims to explore the various common road defects, their cause and possible sustainable solutions. Different localities in the city of Karachi were selected for estimating the average frequency and magnitude of common road defect types. It was found that on an average there were 2.8 potholes, 1.5 ditches, 1.68 speed breakers, 1.3 open manholes, and 0.16 open nullahs per kilometer in Karachi. All together they constitute about 59,436 road defects in the city of Karachi. The most hazardous of them are the open manholes which account for day to day fatal and severe injury accidents. Some of the solutions evaluated for the repair of these road defects were concrete debris, aggregate mixture (gherha), earthen backfill, and used rubber tire strips based manhole cover.

• Periodical: Construction Technologies and Architecture (Volume 13)
• Pages: 119-127
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-Qayo9n
• Online since: July 2024
• Authors: Ashar Ahmed*, Ahsan Zaheer Shaikh, Muhammad Abeer Shaikh
• Keywords: Concrete Debris, Open Manhole, Pothole, Road Safety, Rubber Tire

References

[1] Khare, S., Verma, T., Manola., and Abbasi, F. (2018). "Defects and Maintenance of Roads". International Journal of Advance Research in Science and Engineering, Vol. 07, p.133.

[2] Clevenger, A.P., Hardy, A., Gunson, K., and Bissonette, J. (2006). "Analyses of Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Data: Applications for Guiding Decision-Making for Wildlife Crossing Mitigation and Motorist Safety". Unpublished Report; Utah State University: Logan, UT, USA.

[3] Dumbaugh, E., Li, W. (2010). "Designing for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists in urban environments". Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 77, p.69–88.

DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2011.536101

[4] Khan, N.A., Jhanjhi, N., Brohi, S.N., Usmani, R.S.A., and Nayyar, A. (2020). "Smart traffic monitoring system using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)". Computer Communications, Vol. 157, p.434–443.

DOI: 10.1016/j.comcom.2020.04.049

[5] Justo-Silva, R.and Ferreiera, A. (2019). "Pavement maintenance considering traffic accident costs". International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, Vol. 12, pp.562-573.

DOI: 10.1007/s42947-019-0067-3

[6] Ahmed, A., and Aijaz, B. (2023). "A Case Study on the Potential Applications of V2V Communication for Improving Road Safety in Pakistan," Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Emerging Trends in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, Editors: M.F. Shirazi, S. Javed, S. Ali, M. I. Aslam, Karachi, Pakistan, pp.

DOI: 10.3390/engproc2023032017

[7] DAWN (2023). https://www.dawn.com/news/1767569/woman-daughter-run-over-by-truck. Accessed 23 August, 2023.

[8] Parhlo.com (2019). "Child Falls in Manhole in Karachi". Parhlo News, https://news.parhlo.com/child-falls-in-manhole-karachi/. Accessed 2 August, 2023.

[9] Bekheet, W. (2014) "Short term performance and effect of speed humps on pavement condition of Alexandria Governorate roads." Alexandria Engineering Journal, 53.4: pp.855-861.

DOI: 10.1016/j.aej.2014.09.009

[10] Reddy, V. K., & Nagesh, B. S. (2016). "Smart phone based speed breaker early warning system." International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS),  vol. 14, pp.20-25.

[11] Khorshid, E., Alkalby, F., & Kamal, H. (2007). "Measurement of whole-body vibration exposure from speed control humps." Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 304, p.640–659.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2007.03.013

[12] Hessling, J. P., & Zhu, P. (2008, October). "Analysis of vehicle rotation during passage over speed control road humps." In 2008 International Conference on Intelligent Computation Technology and Automation (ICICTA), vol. 1, pp.304-308. IEEE.

DOI: 10.1109/icicta.2008.311

[13] Abdel-Wahed, T. A., & Hashim, I. H. (2017). "Effect of speed hump characteristics on pavement condition." Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), 4(1), p.103–110.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtte.2016.09.011

[14] Arulrajah, A., Piratheepan, J., Bo, M.W., and Shivakugan, N. (2012). "Geotechnical characteristics of recycled crushed brick blends for pavement sub-vase applications". Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 49, pp.796-811.

DOI: 10.1139/t2012-041

[15] Parihar, R.S., Ahmed, S., Baredar, P., Sharma, A., and Kiran, T. R. (2019). "MSWM in Bhopal city: a critical analysis and a roadmap for its sustainable management." in proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Municipal Engineer, Vol. 172, p.83–95

DOI: 10.1680/jmuen.17.00011

[16] Abrar, H., and Shah, M. (2022). "An Overview of Sustainable Repair Strategies for Potholes in Flexible Pavements During Rehabilitation Phase", in proceedings of the 4th Conference on Sustainability in Civil Engineering: CSCE'22, pp.368-373, August,2022, Islamabad, Pakistan.

[17] S. U. Khan, A. Ahmed, S. Ali, A. Ayub, A. Shuja, and M. A. Shahid, "Use of Scrapped Rubber Tires for Sustainable Construction of Manhole Covers", Journal of Renewable Materials, vol. 9(5), p.1013–1029, 2021.

DOI: 10.32604/jrm.2021.014344

[18] DAWN (2005). https://www.dawn.com/news/165701/karachi-hrcp-shows-concern-over-dug-up-roads-accidents. Accessed 23 August, 2023.