Maintenance of Roads Implemented under the Roads 2000 Strategy in Central Kenya

Abstract

Road maintenance is an integral component of the low-volume sealed roads provision process, the type and cost of which are influenced significantly by decisions made during the preceding planning, design, and construction phases. Low-volume sealed roads are particularly sensitive to the whims of the physical environment so timely and effective control of their deterioration becomes the key challenge to the management of road maintenance. In Kenya, the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) holds the mandate for funding, oversight, and coordination of road maintenance, rehabilitation, and development through the optimum utilisation of resources for a sustainable road network. Each year, KRB finances the maintenance of the road network through the Kenya Roads Board Fund (KRBF). The Fund is distributed among the road agencies charged with maintenance. KRB reviews, individually, the Annual Road Works Programmes (ARWPs) submitted by Road Agencies and consolidate these ARWPs into an Annual Public Roads Programme (APRP). This study aimed at assessing the level and prioritisation of maintenance of the completed and handed-over projects under the Roads 2000 strategy. The condition of the carriageway was assessed, as well as the resilience and adaptation measures in place to respond to climate change. For climate resilience, data such as erosion, problematic soils, drainage from the road and its near environment as well as from outside the road reserve, instability of embankments and cuttings, construction issues and maintenance problems were collected using a standard form for rating against each data type. The assessment conducted on the performance of the side drainage showed that the majority of the roads have side drainage with inadequate depths and are not free-flowing. The high roughness values obtained, which were deduced to be as a result of distresses such as rutting and potholes, were concluded to be as a result of inadequate and untimely maintenance of the surface of the road. The recommended maintenance strategy should be such that interventions for the defects such as cracks, potholes, and edge breaks, among others are carried out as soon as they are identified. It was observed that all the roads surveyed did not have adequate adaptability measures for climate resilience. It was recommended that the Annual Road Inventory and Conditional Survey (ARICS) incorporates the collection of additional data in the assessment on issues that touch on climate resilience, the assessment of which should inform the implementation of appropriate adaptation techniques to improve the climate resilience of the completed roads, and more so the low volume sealed roads