CHAPTER ONE

1. ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND

MANAGMENT
 1.1 ROAD CONSTRUCTION
 Prior to the construction activity the design information has
to be moved from the plan to the ground.
 This is accomplished by staking.
 Slope stakes are an effective way to insure compliance
with the design standards and to keep soil disturbance to an

absolute minimum.
 1.1.1Construction Staking
 Is done Prior to the construction activity begins
 used by the equipment operator in locating where to
begin cutting.
 Is an activity of transfer of design information from
the plan to the ground
 to keep soil disturbance to an absolute minimum.
 Construction Staking
• Road cross section showing possible construction
information
• Figure 2. The effect of improperly starting the cut as marked by
 the slope stake. 
Starting the cut too high results in excess excavation
 and side cast. Starting the cut too low leaves a over stepped cut bank.
 

 
Figure 3. Construction grade check. Engineer stands 
on center of construction grade and sights to RP tag.
Measured distance and slope allow for determination 
of additional cut.
 
 1.1.2. Clearing and Grubbing of the Road
Construction Area
• Is an activity of Preparing the road right-of-way or
construction area
• During the clearing phase, trees are felled
• Grubbing refers to the clearing and removal of stumps
and organic debris
• Trees should be felled and cleared a minimum of 1 to 3
m from the top of the cut or toe of the fill
• The logs can be decked outside the construction or
skidded away
• Organic overburden or topsoil typically has to be
removed over the full construction width.
 Clearing and Grubbing of the Road Construction
Area
• Clearing limits in relation to road bed widths.
Significant quantities of organic materials are removed
between B and E. Stumps are removed between B and
D. Stumps may be left between D and E. Organic debris
and removed stumps are placed in windrows at F to
serve as filter strips.

• Figure  4.  Clearing  limits  in  relation  to  road  bed  widths
 Clearing and Grubbing of the Road
Construction Area
• The additional width between construction
width and forest edge ensures that space is
available to deposit organic debris outside the
road construction width and that there is no
overlap between forest edge and construction
area.
• In most cases, poorly constructed fills over organic
side cast debris was the reason for the failures.
 Clearing and Grubbing of the Road
Construction Area
 Organic material
 decompose and result in uneven settlement and
potential side cast failure
 should be deposited at the lower edge of the road
 In most cases, poorly constructed fills over organic
side cast debris are reason for fill slope failures.
 Pioneer road
 During the grubbing phase, or preparation phase
often constructed to facilitate equipment access,
logging equipment movement, and delivery of
construction materials, such as culverts
 Clearing and Grubbing of the Road
Construction Area
• Pioneer road location at bottom of proposed fill
provides a bench for holding fill material of
completed road.
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 The method and equipment used in road construction is an
 important economic and  design factor in road Location
 and subsequent design.
A. Bulldozer in Road Construction
 A bulldozer can be used in all phases of road 
construction from excavation  and drainage 
installation to final grading
 the most common piece of equipment in forest road
 construction is the bulldozer equipped with straight or U-
type blades. 
 Bulldozers are efficient and economical piece of equipment
for road construction where roads can be full benched and
excavated material can be side cast and wasted.
1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 the most economical pieces of equipment when
 material  has  to  be  moved  a  short  distance.
 The  economic  haul or push distance for a bulldozer 
with a straight blade is from 17 to 90 meters depending on 
grade.
 used when side slopes are not too steep(<50%) 
 On steep slopes, bulldozers should only be used 
trench excavation
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 The road design should consider the following points w
hen bulldozers are to be used for road construction.
 Roads should be full benched.
 Earth is moved downgrade with the aid of gravity, not 
up-grade
 Fill material is borrowed rather than pushed
 Rock  outcrops  should  be  bypassed 
  Adequate filter strips are provided along the toe of the 
fill.
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations

B. Hydraulic Excavator in Road Construction
relatively  new  technology  in  forest  road  
construction
This machine basically operates by digging, swinging
 and depositing material
If side slopes >60 percent, end hauling and/or use of a 
hydraulic excavator is highly recommended.
1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
 Advantages of hydraulic excavators :
 Faster cycle time,
 Higher bucket penetrating force,
 More precise digging, and easier operator control.
 Many attachments can be made to increase the
versatility of the equipment's.
 Excavating – Earthworks
 Loading Excavated Material
 Scarification
 Making of Drains
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations

c. Loaders
A tractor equipped with a front – end bucket
These are equipment's used primarily to
 load excavated materials to a hauling unit,
excavate soft to medium materials
loading hoppers, stockpiling materials, backfilling
ditches, and moving concrete and other construction
materials.
1.2 General Equipment Considerations

Figure : Wheel Loader – Articulated

 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
D. Grader( Motor Grader)
Grading is the process of bringing earth work to the
desired shape and elevation (grade).
Finish grading involves smoothing slopes, shaping
ditches, and bringing the earth work to the required
elevation.
The blade of a grader can be tilted, pitched and
angled.
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations
E. Trucks and Wagons
Used for dumping and hauling purpose
The heavy – duty rear dump truck is most widely used
because of its flexibility of use and the ability of
highway models to move rapidly between job sites.
Trucks can be divided into highway trucks and
off highway trucks as shown on the figure respectively.
 1.2 General Equipment Considerations

F. Water Truck
The major objective of this equipment is to take water
for construction and showering( adding optimum
amount of water(OMC) for compaction).
 1.3 Subgrade Construction
 construction of the subgrade begins after the clearing 
and grubbing (stump removal) phase.  
A. Subgrade Excavation with Bulldozer
 Proper construction equipment and techniques are
critically important for minimizing erosion from
roads during and after the construction.
 approximately 80 percent of the total accumulated
erosion over the life of the road occurs within the
first year after construction.
 Of that, most of it is directly linked to the
construction phase.
 1.3 Subgrade Construction
 In order to keep erosion during the construction
phase to an absolute minimum four elements
must be considered.
 Keep construction time (exposure of unprotected
surfaces) as short as possible
 Plan construction activities for the dry season.
 Install drainage facilities right away. Once started,
drainage installation should continue until
complete
 Construct filter strips or windrows at the toe of fill
 slopes to catch earth stumps and sheet erosion.
 1.3 Subgrade Construction
A. Cut Construction
Three basic construction techniques are commonly
used:
1. side cast fills and/or wasting,
2. full bench construction with end haul, and
3. balanced road sections with excavation
incorporated into layered fills
1.3 Subgrade Construction
1. side cast fills and/or wasting,
 traditionally has been the most common construction method
 been responsible for the highest erosion rates and making
large areas unproductive.
  Excavated material is side cast  and  wasted,  rather  than
incorporated  into  the  road  prism
 The  advantage  is  uniform subgrade and soil strength.
 Side cast or wasted material cannot remain stable on side
slopes exceeding 60 to 70 percent ,Under such conditions
excavated material has to be end hauled to a safe disposal area
This requires dump trucks and excavators or shovels for
loading and hauling.
 Side cast construction is the preferred construction method for
bulldozers.
 1.3 Subgrade Construction
• An obvious disadvantage is the potential for erosion 
of loose, unconsolidated side cast material.

Figure 7. Three basic road prism construction methods.
Subgrade Construction
• Road construction with a bulldozer. The machine
starts at the top and in successive passes excavates
down to the required grade. Excavated material is
side cast and may form part of the roadway.
Subgrade Construction
• Sliver fills created on steep side slopes where
ground slope and fill slope angles differ by less
than 7º and fill slope height greater than 6.0 meters
are inherently unstable.
Subgrade Construction
B. Fill Construction
• Only mineral soil, free of organic debris such as
stumps, tree tops and humus should be used
• Fills should be constructed and built up in layers
• Each layer, or lift, should be spread and then
compacted.
• Lift height before compaction depends on the
compaction equipment being used.
• It is considered poor practice to build fills by end
dumping instead of layering and compacting.
 Subgrade Construction
• Fills are constructed by layering and compacting each layer.
Typically lift height should be about 30 cm and should not
exceed 50 cm. Compaction should be done with proper
compaction equipment and not a bulldozer.
Subgrade Construction
• Fills which are part of the roadway should not be
constructed by end dumping.
 Subgrade Construction
• Compaction
 Proper compaction techniques result in significant cost
reduction and reductions in erosion.
 Erosion potential is directly proportional to the
excavation volume especially if it is side cast in
unconsolidated and loose fills.
 1.3 Subgrade Construction
Subgrade Construction with Excavator
 Because of their excellent placement control of excavated
material, they are ideal machines for construction under
difficult conditions.
 preferred machine on steep side slopes
 The excavator works from a platform or pioneer road at
the lower end of the finished road.
Subgrade Construction
 First pass with excavator, clearing logs and stumps
from construction site. Working platform or pioneer
road just outside of planned road surface width.
Subgrade Construction
 Second pass with excavator, removing or stripping
overburden or unsuitable material and placing it
below pioneer road.
Subgrade Construction
 Third pass, finishing subgrade and embankment fill
over pioneer road. Road side ditch is finished at the
same time.
1.4. Construction of the Structural
layers of pavements
 1.4.1 Subgrade compaction
 Compaction is the reduction in volume of a partially
saturated soil mass which takes place as a result of
expulsion of air from the voids at the same water content to
increases the strength of subgrade soils.
 Compaction is relatively simple in fill sections because all
the layers are subjected to construction processes.
 Compaction is more difficult in cut sections.
 Subgrade Compaction—Normal cases
 Cohesion less soils (except silts) can be compacted from the
surface with heavy rollers or very heavy vibratory
compactors.
 Cohesive soils (including silts) cannot be compacted in
thick layers.
 In cut areas consisting of cohesive soils, it may be
necessary to remove the subgrade material and replace it
with sequential lifts capable of being compacted to the
required density.
 Compaction of cohesive soil is best achieved with
penetrating rollers such as tamping or sheep foot.
 Cohesion less, free-draining materials should be compacted
at moisture contents approaching saturation.
 Subgrade Compaction—Special cases
 Although compaction normally increases the strength of
soils, some soils lose stability when scarified and rolled.
 Some soils shrink excessively during dry periods and
expand excessively when they absorb moisture.
 Special treatment is required when these soils are
encountered.
[Link] That Lose Strength
 The types of soils that decrease in strength when remolded
are generally in the USCS CH, MH, and OH groups.
 They are soils that have been consolidated to a very high
degree, either under an overburdened load by alternate
cycles of wetting and drying or by other means,
 Subgrade Compaction—Special cases
B. Silts
The bearing capacity of silts, very fine sands, and rock flour
(predominantly USCS ML and SC groups) is reasonably good
if properly compacted within the specified moisture range.
Compaction of deposits of silt, very fine sand, and rock
flour located in areas with a high water table can pump
water to the surface.
The material becomes quick or spongy and practically loses
all load-bearing [Link] condition can also develop
when silts and poorly draining, very fine sands are compacted
at a high moisture content.
 Subgrade Compaction—Special cases
 Therefore, it is difficult to obtain the desired compaction in
these silts and very fine sands at moisture contents greater
than optimum.
 In areas with a high water table, drying is not possible until
the water table is sufficiently lowered.
 Areas of this nature are best treated by replacing the soil
with sub base and base materials or with a dry soil that is
not adversely affected by water.
C. Swelling soils
• Soils are characterized as swelling if they display a
significant increase in volume with the addition of moisture.
 Subgrade Compaction—Special cases

 The soil should be compacted at a moisture content at which

a 3-percent or greater swelling has already occurred.
 This reduces the impact of future expansion.
 Proper control of moisture content is the most important
item to remember for swelling soils.
1.4.2 Select Materials, Sub base and Base course
 Cont…
 Select materials and sub base
locally available or other inexpensive materials may be
used between the subgrade and subbase course
Design CBR values greater than or equal to 20
Where the CBR value of the subgrade, with- out
processing, is in the range of 20 to 50, select materials
and subbases may not be needed
Select and subbase materials can be processed and
compacted using normal compaction procedures.
 Cont…
Select materials and subbase
 Sub base is the layer material beneath the base course constructed
using local and cheaper materials for economic reason.
 Some the main advantages of sub base layer are;
 To provide additional help to the upper layers and transfer the traffic
load to the bottom layer reducing its effect.
 It acts as a work plate form for the construction of the upper
pavement layers such as base course and asphalt concrete layers.
 It facilitates drainage of free water that might get accumulated below
the pavement.
 If the base course is open graded the sub base course with more fines
can serves as a filter between the sub grade and base course.
 Cont…
Base courses
 Base course is the layer of a material immediately beneath
to the surface course (asphalt concrete layer).
 It may be composed of a well- graded crushed stone
(unbounded), granular material mixed with binder or
stabilized material.
 It is the main structural part of the pavement and
providing the level surface for laying the surface layer.
 The base course material can be placed (distributed) on its
specified layer by:
Shaving by motor grade
Paver machine
 Cont…
 Base courses
 is normally the highest quality structural material used in a flexible
pavement structure, having CBR values near the CBR standard
material
 The purpose of a base course is to distribute the induced stresses
from the wheel load so that it will not exceed the strength of the
underlying soil layers
 must be capable of being compacted to meet the requirements
 CBR of the finished base course must conform to that used in the
design.
 The total compacted thickness must equal that obtained from the
flexible-pavement design results.
 Cont…
Construction Operations
Fine Grading
subgrade is fine graded to achieve the desired cross
section established by final grade stakes
Before placing select material, subbase, and base course,
the subgrade should be compacted to attain the required
density, and ruts and other soft spots should be
corrected.
 Cont…
Hauling, Placing, and Spreading
Placing and spreading material on the prepared subgrade
may begin at the point nearest the borrow source or at
the point farthest from the source.
The advantage of working from the point nearest the
source is that the haul vehicles can be routed over the
spread material, which compacts the base and avoids
damage to the subgrade
An advantage of working from the point farthest from
the source is that hauling equipment will further compact
the subgrade.
 Cont…

this practice will not overwork the base course, which

can cause unwanted segregation.
This method also reveals any weak spots in the subgrade
so that they can be corrected prior to placement of the
base courses,
Lift thickness should be based on the ability to compact
the material to the required density.
After testing the compacted density, increase or
decrease the lift thickness as necessary to meet the
project requirements.
 Cont…
Blending and Mixing
Materials to be blended and mixed should be spread on
the road in correct proportions, with the finer material on
top.
The coarse and fine aggregates can also be mixed in
mechanical plants (mobile or stationary) or on a paved
area with graders and bucket loaders.
Mixing operations should produce uniform blending
Proportionally distribute the coarse and fine aggregates
by weight or volume in quantities so that the specified
gradation, LL, and PI requirements are attained after the
base has been placed and compacted.
 Cont…
Compacting
 Must produce a uniformly dense layer that conforms to
the specification
 Compact each Layer through the full depth to the
required density
 Measure field densities on the total sample.
 Use a test strip to determine which rollers are most
effective and how many roller passes are necessary to
achieve the desired compaction.
 The care and judgment used when constructing the base
course will directly reflect on the quality of the
finished flexible pavement of the base material.
 Cont…

 may be compacted initially with a sheepsfoot roller and

rubber -tired
 Base courses of crushed rock, lime rock, and shell are
compacted with vibratory, steel-wheeled, or rubber -
tired rollers
 Select the equipment and methods on each job to suit
the characteristics.
 Cont…
 Finishing
 Must closely follow compaction to furnish a crowned,
light, water-shedding surface free of ruts and
depressions that would inhibit runoff.
 Use the grader for finishing compacted aggregate base.
 Before final rolling, the bladed material must be within
the specified moisture-content range so it will
consolidate with the underlying material to form a
dense, unyielding mass
 Final rolling is done with rubber-tired and steelwheeled
rollers.
 HMA Placement and Compaction
 Asphalt concrete layer is the top layer of the pavement layers which
the traffic loads is directly rest. It is usually constructed from dense
graded hot-mix asphalt. It is the structural part of the pavement;
 Asphalt concrete layer possesses the following
characteristics:
 High resistance to deformation.
 High resistance to fatigue and ability to withstand high strain.
 High stiffness to reduce the stress transmitted to the pavement
layers.
 High resistance to the environmental degradation.
 Low permeability to prevent the entrance of water and air.
 Cont…
 Weather Limitations
 Hot mix asphalt may be placed only when weather
conditions are favorable.
 Placing the mix on a cold surface or when the air
temperature is low causes the mix to cool too quickly.
 Paving mixtures may not be laid on wet surfaces or when
other conditions are obviously not suitable, even if air and
surface temperatures are within the limits.
 At the plant is required to stop when rain starts; however,
material which is on the way to the construction may be
placed if the rainfall is light enough to avoid excessive
cooling or honey-combing after compaction.
 Cont…
 Alignment
 The alignment of the edge of the pavement is critical to the
appearance of the highway
 When overlaying an existing pavement with a uniform edge,
the paver operator may use the edge as a guide for laying
the new pavement.
 When the edge is irregular or the lay is on a new base, an
offset string line to guide the paver is required. Neat lines
are a requirement for a good quality pavement.
 Cont…
 Grade and Slope Control
 The paver may be equipped with an automatic grade
and slope device
 The automatic grade device controls the screed to adjust
the thickness of the mat as the mix is placed to meet the
desired grade.
 The automatic grade device may be guided with a
string line, a grade leveler, or a joint marker,
depending on the conditions of the existing pavement.
 Cont…
 Mix Temperature and Appearance
 Check the top size of the aggregate to verify that the size is correct for
the course being placed.
 The mix is required to be of similar color throughout the load.
Improper mixing at the plant may result in some parts of the mix
being lighter than others.
 All aggregates are required to be coated with asphalt. Large coarse
aggregate may not be entirely coated because of the rough surface
texture.
 Puddles of asphalt sitting on the mix indicate insufficient mixing.
 Blue smoke rising from the mix is an immediate indication that the
temperature of the mix is too hot.
 The aggregate particles are required to be distributed throughout the
mix.
 Cont…
• Table; temperature specification for Bahir Dar-zema river
Bridge road upgrading project.
Measurement taken at Temperature in ºc
Loading at the truck at the plant 150-175
The track reaches at the site 140-160
At the paver at paving 135-150
The steel roller makes compaction 120-135
The tire roller makes compaction 90-120
 Cont…
 Transverse Joints
• A transverse joint, commonly called a day joint, is normally
required at the end of each day’s paving to provide a smooth
transitional ramp for traffic
 Cont…
 Longitudinal Joints
 Longitudinal joints are made when joining adjacent lays
to make the specified width of pavement
 The paver screed does not overlap the previous lay and
is carried slightly higher to allow for compaction of
the new lay to match the previous lay.
 Cont…
 Compaction
• Is conducted in three phases
1) Breakdown or initial rolling:-compacts the material
beyond that imparted by the paver.
2) Intermediate rolling:-intermediate rolling compacts and
seals the surface
3) Finish rolling:-removes the roller marks and other
blemishes left from the previous rolling
.
 Cont…
 The following techniques of construction are applied during
the construction of pavement layers;
 The direction of compaction is from bottom to the top on
the hilly area. This is done to protect the sliding of
pavement layer during construction.
 The compaction paths are overlapped each other to avoid
the bulging of materials between the paths.
 Compaction is started from the inner side of the
horizontal curve and continues to the outer side of
horizontal curve. This is done to protect the sliding of
materials due to supper elevation.
 Cont…
Compaction may be controlled by the number of passes of a
specified series of rollers or by density
With either method, sufficient rollers are required to be
operated to complete the compaction before the
temperature of the mix has cooled.
The rolling operation is required to obtain a fully
compacted mat
If the necessary compaction is not attained, subsequent
traffic consolidates the mat further resulting in wheel ruts
HMA Placement and Compaction
END