India has seen the use of fly ash and studied the use of waste plastic in road construction on National Highway. Now, taking another step forward, it is exploring the use of phosphor-gypsum, a by-product of fertilizer production, in road construction on national highways.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, an Indian fertilizer company has constructed a road using phosphor-gypsum. “The road was evaluated by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and based on their report, the Indian Road Congress (IRC) has accredited neutralised phosphor-gypsum waste material for road construction for a period of three years,” the Ministry said.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), along with the Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, is going to take up field trials on its projects for use of phosphor-gypsum in national highway construction to achieve a circular economy in the use of gypsum.
“The fertilizer company and CRRI have been asked to take up field trials on an NHAI project to evaluate performance of phosphor-gypsum on a National Highway and to generate confidence among various stakeholders on use of phosphor-gypsum waste material in Highway construction,” the Ministry added.
The initiative is another step of the NHAI toward keeping its commitment to encourage use of waste material to build ecologically sustainable National Highway Infrastructure.
Use of waste plastic in road construction is also being encouraged by the NHAI at the moment. Waste plastic has already been tested very successfully. Studies have established that roads built using plastic waste are durable, sustainable and increase the life of the bitumen. Construction of one kilometre of four-lane highway helps in disposal of approximately seven tonnes of plastic waste.
Further, the NHAI has also used fly ash — the fine residue of coal combustion in the Thermal Power Plants for construction of Highways and flyover embankments. The 135-km long, six-lane Eastern Peripheral Expressway used 1.2 crore cubic meters of fly-ash in its construction.
“NHAI has been encouraging the innovative use of new materials and is focused on reducing the carbon footprint, enhancing durability and making construction more economical,” the Ministry added.
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