Abstract
The developing world has been faced with high rates of unemployment, exacerbated by extended enforced lockdowns due to the pandemic. Pressure is mounting for drastic intervention to accelerate economic growth and to provide employment opportunities. Most of these countries are faced with inadequate road transport facilities in support of economic growth. The construction of high-order roads in support of economic growth requires high degrees of compliance with limited opportunities for increased labour content. However, many of the existing surfaced roads are notoriously lacking periodic preventative maintenance operations needed to preserve the integrity of road surfaces to protect pavement structures against water ingress and resultant rapid deterioration. This article demonstrates the ability of available, proven nanotechnologies to restore the water-resistant properties of already compromised road surfacings. It is shown that traditionally used road products can substantially be improved (in terms of strength properties and resistance to environmental factors) through the addition of applicable nanotechnology modifiers. These modified products can be applied at ambient temperatures, ideally suited for labour intensive applications as demonstrated, showing several examples of actual applications. A combination of modified existing technologies is recommended to partially restore severely compromised road surfacings, especially applicable to secondary and tertiary urban road networks. The implementation of the recommended restoration programmes can go a long way towards road asset preservation, while simultaneously addressing the urgent need for rapid employment generation.
Highlights
The developing world is faced with high unemployment statistics, exacerbated by an extended lockdown of economies enforced by the world-wide pandemic
The pothole must be dry, and for potholes requiring more than one bag to fill, the exposed material within the pothole should be treated with the application of a clear-seal or by “painting” the cleaned pothole with some spare anionic NME binder
Infrastructure spending is seen as a major instrument available to governments, with an emphasis on high labour content
Summary
The developing world is faced with high unemployment statistics, exacerbated by an extended lockdown of economies enforced by the world-wide pandemic. Road authorities are under increasing pressure to increase the labour component of road infrastructure projects. The construction of high-order primary roads in support of economic growth requires a high degrees of compliance with engineering specifications, and it is often difficult to increase the labour content of these projects. Periodic maintenance ( known as preventative maintenance) is notoriously lacking in numerous countries, often leading to premature distress and the destruction of valuable road infrastructure assets. In the absence of Maintenance Management Systems (MMSs), the integrity of road surfacings is relatively compromised (compared to the original road structure design period) due to the ageing effect (environmental impact) of the surfacing binder, leading to cracking and water ingress into the road pavement structure, which result in accelerated premature distress in the form of cracking, surface disintegration and potholes. The absence of MMSs can be directly associated with the destruction of valuable state assets (roads) which directly support economic growth
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