ALTERNATIVE OPTION FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE CONDITION

Abstract

Bangladesh is one of the worst climate-vulnerable countries in the world. It is predicted that the temperature of the country will increase 10- 30 Celsius and precipitation 20% by 2050. Bangladesh being a flood-prone country, roads in the lowlying areas will likely to be flooded more frequently than before due to increased rainfall. The study has developed a methodology by Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) method to find out the effect of moisture and temperature on the pavement. It has also provided solutions to minimize the additional damage due to traffic movement on the affected pavement. It is found that damage by a standard axle load during saturation period of 30 days is almost 3 times than that in dry condition. However, during 30 days of saturation if the axle is overloaded by 6 ton, the damage is 20 times than that of a standardaxle at the dry condition. By M-E method it is found that imposing 30 % restriction on standard axle load during pavement saturation condition will minimize the additional damage. It has suggested using improved materials to fight against temperature rise. The outcome of the study will support road engineers of Bangladesh to combat the climate change effect by adopting axle load restriction.