BENGALURU: With city roads crying for attention, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is thinking of moving from white topping to rapid road work which largely cuts the time taken to lay concrete roads.
Palike Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath on Wednesday inspected a 500-metre stretch on Old Madras Road from 100 Ft Road Junction to Petrol Junction, where a pilot project of the new method has been carried out. Though it costs 20 per cent more than the traditional method for every kilometre, it takes far less time to lay, he said. “It uses a pre-cast method.
The cost escalation is because of transportation of the precast from the plant to the site. If this works, we can consider it for other roads too,” he added This stretch was chosen for the pilot project as the work would ease traffic near NGEF, Baiyyappanahalli and Indiranagar 100 Feet Road.
Explaining the method, officials from UltraTech Cement, which is the innovation partner in the project, claimed that this latest technology is used in developing countries like the US. “In the precast tensioning concrete method, readymade slabs are laid and connected by steel cables on either side of the joints using cranes. A 150-metre stretch can be laid in just a day or two, and traffic can be allowed soon after,” said PM Hiremath, regional manager, UltraTech Cement.
The precast concrete slabs are designed and developed taking into consideration the existing and future traffic conditions and the road lasts at least four decades, he said. White topping of 1 km of road costs Rs 7.5 crore, while under the new method, it is higher at Rs a9.3 crore.