Lessons learnt from the measurement of gravel road roughness in Kwazulu-Natal

Gravel roads account for about 80 percent of the total of roads for which the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is responsible. Because gravel roads play a vital role in the mobility and economy of the province it is important that they are maintained optimally. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport uses a pavement management system to ensure that decisions regarding the maintenance of gravel roads are economically justifiable. One of the most important pavement condition parameters required to do this is road roughness. Roughness affects vehicle operating costs and is a key input parameter for the economic evaluation of alternative maintenance strategies. Traditionally, the roughness of unpaved roads is determined by assessing comfortable speeds accompanied with visual perception of the condition of defects that contribute to roughness. Roughness determined in this manner can be subjective and variable. Measuring roughness with a vehicle mounted device eliminates the subjectivity of the measurement and provides quantifiable data upon which an economic analysis can be based. This paper presents results of road roughness measurements on a gravel road in KwaZulu-Natal collected with a Roughometer III. A comparison is made between measured roughness and condition indices derived from visual assessments. The limitations of the Roughometer III under South African conditions are also discussed.

• Authors:
  • Balaram, Y
  • Mostert, M
• Conference:
  • SARF/IRF Regional Conference, 5th, 2014, Pretoria, South Africa
• Publication Date: 2014-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 8p
• Monograph Title: Better roads: moving Africa: improving capacity and safety for road transport in Africa: SARF/IRF 2014, 5th Regional Conference for Africa

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Gravel roads; Measuring instruments; Pavement management systems; Roughness; Unpaved roads
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road design and asset management
• Geographic Terms: South Africa
• ATRI Terms: Gravel; Measuring equipment; Pavement management system; Roughness; Unsealed road
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01543781
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Nov 21 2014 10:39AM