The document discusses the challenges of constructing and maintaining roadways in high altitude regions of India. Some key points: - Road construction in high altitude areas requires special considerations for materials, equipment, worker safety and design due to extreme weather conditions like heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures. - Factors that contribute to frequent landslides in mountainous regions include steep slopes, erosion, heavy rainfall, snow melt, loss of vegetation, earthquakes and mining. - Special structures like snow galleries and avalanche control structures are used to allow snow to pass over roads. Heated road surfaces are also being trialled to prevent ice and snow buildup. - Ongoing maintenance activities like clearing landslides and drain

1. HIGHWAY
ENGINEERING
AT
HIGH ALTITUDES

2. INDIA- TYPES OF TERRAINS
INDIA
PlainsDesert
Coast Mountains

3. INCA ROADWAYS

4. INTRODUCTION
• A country's progress is defined by it’s road
network.
• Constructing and maintaining the roadways in the
HIGH ALTITUDE REGIONS have been a major
challenge for the engineers. Almost every
monsoon, roadways get blocked due to landslide
and in winter time roadways get blocked due to
heavy snowfall.
• The HIGH ALTITUDE REGIONS are characterized
by extremely steep and rugged slopes.

5. Contd………
• The requirement of constructing roadways near
HAAs region was felt during the 1950s when it
was found that the lofty Himalayan Mountains
were no longer effective as a natural protective
wall.
• BRO has till date constructed 28,342 km of
formation cutting, 32,885 km of surfacing, 12,200
metres of permanent bridges and has undertaken
Rs 2039 crore worth of permanent works. Over
75 per cent of BRO’s road construction projects
are in High Altitude Areas (HAAs). It is presently
building 2,764 km of a total of 5,061 km road
length in India’s north-eastern state of Arunachal
Pradesh alone.

7. Categories of roadway construction based on
geographical and regional considerations:
• Roadway construction in normal terrain and
weather condition
• Roadway constructions in extremely hot
weather condition
• Roadway construction in hilly areas
• Roadway construction in extremely cold
weather condition including at high altitudes.

8. Roadway construction
at
High Altitude Areas

10. Nilgiri hills region

11. The Himalayan region

12. • The special attention and treatment for roadway
construction at high altitudes starts right from
> mobilization of resources,
> selection of camping sites,
> suitably insulated accommodation,
> selection and procurement of machinery and equipment
> right type of fuel
> lubricants for the machinery and vehicles,
> appropriate grade of bitumen
> suitable type of cement properly acclimatized workers,
> suitable clothing’s and gear for the workers

13. DESIGN ASPECT
• While designing HAAs roads special consideration such
as, balanced cut and fill with a retaining wall, use of
reinforced soil to minimize earthworks and provision of
adequate erosion control measures.
• Geometric design for transportation facilities includes
the design of
> Geometric cross sections
> Horizontal alignment
> Vertical alignment
> Superelevation
> Intersections
• the goals of geometric design are to maximize the
comfort, safety, and economy of facilities, while
minimizing their environmental impacts.

15. Retaining Wall & Erosion control
measures

16. DESIGN ASPECT
• Superelevation = e = (v2/gR)-f
• The regions falling in extremely cold weather
conditions experience frequent snowfalls
during winters and sometimes even after the
winters or before the onset of winter.
• In the road sections susceptible to snowfall,
the road alignment, as far as practicable,
should be fixed on the sunny race.

17. SNOW GALLERIES AND AVALANCHE
CONTROL STRUCTURES

18. Contd……….
• In heavy snowfall reaches, special structures such
as snow galleries and avalanche control
structures are constructed to allow the snow
mass to slide over the gallery roof without
inducing impacts of loads on the road structure.
• During thawing season, there is heavy discharge
of water in the drains due to melting of snow
causing erosion to the sides and the bed of the
drain.
• So we should provide lined drains in the snowfall
reaches of the road.

19. Contd...
• The penetration grade of the bitumen for the
pavement and the job mix design for the
bituminous works as also for the concrete
works have to be selected taking into
consideration the ambient temperature and
the working conditions prevailing in the area.
• Use of polymers in the bituminous mix help as
crack resistant and anti strapping agents.

20. CONSTRUCTION ASPECTS
• The low temperature poses numerous construction
problems, particularly for the bituminous and concrete
works.
• In case of construction of embankments and subgrade,
excavation becomes difficult as the earthen layers
immediately below the surface are found to be frozen.
• The bituminous works or concrete works are not to be
undertaken when the rising ambient temperature is <
5oC or the falling temperature is < 10oC.
• Due to rapid loss in temperature of bituminous mix,
the mixing plant should be located very close to the
work site.

21. Contd…
• To complete the compaction within very short duration
after spreading of the mix, we need adequate extra
compaction equipment i.e. tandem rollers, vibratory
rollers, pneumatic rollers.
• The experience from concreting at normal temperature
cannot be used directly under the cold weather
condition, as the hardening period before removal of
formwork is increased in this case.
• Timber formwork is preferable over the steel formwork
in cold weather condition and at high altitudes.
• To get the required strength in short period we can use
rapid hardening Portland cement or accelerating
admixtures.

22. Contd…..
• Normally, warm water is used for preparing
the concrete mix.
• During periods of freezing or near freezing
conditions, water curing is not necessary.
• 'Set-Accelerating' ADMIXTURE are used.

23. Contd..
• Materials used for the insulation of concrete from
cold and also for the curing of concrete are:
--insulating board.
--saw dust.
--timber planks.
--damp sand.
--wheat stalks.
--commercial blanket.

24. Factors affecting the roadways
construction at high altitudes
• The Himalayan regions are characterized by extremely
steep and rugged slopes with frequent landslides.
• Some of the factors identified to be responsible for the
frequent landslides in these regions are
steep slopes
toe erosion by rivers
heavy rainfall
melting of snow at high altitude
loss of vegetation
earthquake
mining
unplanned urbanization

25. Khardung La PASS
(18,379 ft)

26. MAINTENANCE
• In the snow affected areas, special recovery loams
comprising of cranes and trained crews are to be
positioned at identified location to remove the
accidental vehicles.
• Transverse cracks appearing on the wearing course
surface must be sealed or repaired periodically.
• Common salt or calcium chloride can be used for snow
melting.
• Roadside drains and opening of culverts must be
cleaned periodically.
• Resources are to be positioned for clearing the slides.
• Special goggles are to be provided to the workers to
protect against the snow glare.

27. Road heating system
• Road heating systems have been in development for
some years, with variations undergoing trials and in
operational use.
• Trials in the UK are being undertaken using
underground “energy reservoirs” which transfer solar
energy collected from the road surface into useable
power. Stored heat from the collectors can then be
used to heat the road in winter, helping prevent the
build-up of ice and snow.
• Gas-fired systems use gas supplied by a utility provider,
and as such are usually a less expensive option. Snow
and ice is melted by sending antifreeze that has been
warmed by a boiler through special nylon resin piping
via circulating pump.

28. “A word for change”
Solar Roadways
Generally the Solar Roadways will:-
1. Create an intelligent, secure highway infrastructure that pays for itself.
2. Create an intelligent, secure, decentralized, self-healing power grid.
3. Eliminate the need for coal-fired or nuclear power plants.
4. End our dependency on oil and other fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural
gas).
5. Cut our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 50%.
6. Provide safer driving conditions.
7. Snow & ice management
8. Traffic management
9. Wild life protection
10. National security
11. Usage of recycled material

29. Contd…
• Each Solar Road Panel uses some of its own
power to light up embedded LEDs, which “paint”
the road lines from beneath the road surface.
This feature also allows messages to be spelled
out on the road surface, such as “SLOW DOWN”,
or “ACCIDENT AHEAD”. Road lines can be instantly
“repainted” to direct traffic to a single lane or to
detour. This eliminates the need for cones or
flares. Better visibility at night with the road lines
illuminated, it will be like driving on a well-lit
runway.

30. Solar roadways

31. Conclusion
• The idea is to design and maintain a feasible
roadway at high altitude areas, which will be able
to structurally withstand traffic loading and
operate as a test platform for future structural
testing. This can be accomplished by assessing
the overall design requirements of such roadway
and working through each major segment of the
design. Setting up of a network of new roads is
essential in the so far inaccessible highlands
especially in the Himalayan regions, and to
introduce new technology.

32. Reference
• Wikipedia.org/highway engineering
• Google.com/road construction at high altitude
• LANDSLIDES - INVESTIGATIONS AND MITIGATION IN
EASTERN HIMALAYAN REGION A. SENGUPTA* , S. GUPTA** &
K. ANBARASU**

33. Thank you