A National Seminar “Highways Development: Design, Construction Operation And Repairs” was organized in collaboration of ICI, UP Allahabad center and YASTK along with Institute of Engineers (India) UP State centre and the several construction organizations.

Infrastructure facilities are being developed in the country in a big way. These are necessary to take the country forward as an industrially developed nation. Infrastructure includes the construction of roads, Highway, Bridges, Dams, and Power Plant etc. It is planed such that in the next six years, India will spend as much as Rs. 5200 billion on infrastructure facilities. For constructing highways and bridge alone India along with World bank, Asian Development bank, JBIC, etc will be cooperating. As we all know, large scale construction is already going on and more will be needed. Construction of Highways & bridge is under the aegis of the National Highway Authority of India and state PWD’s.

So far Roads & highways were not given important during construction as they were made with Bitumen. Since Bitumen is a byproduct of crude oil which is imported, and it is costly and have less life span, so people have the tendency to avoid such material. Now with the recent development most Highways are being made as rigid pavements with concrete. Though the cost of concrete roads is much higher than Bituminous Roads but they are cheaper than bitumen road as per the life cycle cost. Concrete Pavement have many advantages over flexible pavement like:

a. Longer life – 30 to 40 years
b. Very little maintenance throughout their life
c. Smoother surface & better performance
d. Carriers / vehicles save up to 14% on fuel & maintenance.
e. They are non-polluting & user friendly
f. They do not get damaged during rain.
g. They are cheaper than bitumen road as per life cycle cost.

Concrete is a material which can be molded into any shape or size and can be made into any type of structure and anywhere. Thus, it is the best suited material for not only highways but also for other type of construction whether Bridges, Hi rise building & even in common construction by common men. It is well know that cement / concrete has revolutionized the entire construction Industry making it possible for construction of simple to most complicated structure on land or sea. Even all the nuclear containers are made with concrete to avoid radiation effect. With the signing of 123 agreement by Government of India with USA and similar agreement with many other countries the need for concrete reactor vassals will go up many times. Further it is sure that if a structure is to be made on any other planet then it will be of concrete only.

Thus because of durability, strength & workability requirements many developments have taken place in concrete technology & thus forms of concrete have been developed some of the developments are.

a. High Strength Concrete (HSC)
b. High Performance Concrete (HPC)
c. Polymer Concrete
d. Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC)
e. Self Compacting Concrete (SCC)
f. Ultra High Strength Concrete
g. Smart Concrete or self-Health Monitoring Concrete
h. Internal Curing of Concrete etc.

Self Compacting concrete can get compacted by its own weight. It can completely fill the formwork and achieve full compaction even in the presence of congested reinforcement. For all this type and quality of materials and concrete must be monitored, which is the uppermost factor in concrete as this is made at site by manpower and Machine’s together. In order to achieve quality, appropriate construction materials and construction practices are being developed and should be adhered to.

With the objective of giving direction for production & use of concrete for rigid pavements & Bridge the YASTK, Indian Concrete Institute and Institution of Engineers is organizing this All India Seminar on “ Highways Development: Design, Construction, Operation and Repairs.”

In this seminar, papers on following themes are included:
1. Concrete & other materials, Mix Design and Quality control.
2. Rural roads and flexible Pavements- Design & construction
3. Repair & Rehabilitation of highways—Material & Methods
4. Bridge – Construction & Repairs
5. Remote sensing and GIS Applications

More than 150 Designers, Construction Manager, Builders and others who are having interest in Highway pavements, Bridge & Concrete Construction from all over the country attended the seminar.