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Maintenance of bituminous roads

Short answer

Bituminous road maintenance includes routine patching and crack sealing, periodic renewal with seal coats or overlays, treating defects like bleeding and ravelling, and keeping drains and shoulders clear to prevent water damage.

Describe the maintenance of bituminous road.

Maintenance of a bituminous road is grouped as follows:

  1. Routine maintenance - patching potholes (cut a square, clean, apply a tack coat, fill with premix, compact), sealing cracks with bitumen emulsion, cleaning drains and culverts, and repairing shoulders and edges.
  2. Periodic maintenance - at intervals of 3 to 8 years: surface dressing, slurry seal, fog seal, premix carpet or a thin bituminous overlay to renew the wearing surface.
  3. Special treatment of defects - bleeding is treated by spreading hot coarse sand or chips; ravelling by a seal coat; depressions or rutting by a levelling course; and severe failure by removing and reconstructing the layers.
  4. Drainage maintenance - keep side drains, cross drains and shoulders in good condition, because water is the main cause of damage (IRC:82 and Nepal DoR maintenance guidelines).

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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