Construction of Low-Volume Roads Using Labor-Based Technology for a site in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

What is it about?

There is a huge backlog in the construction and upgrading of roads in Zimbabwe and this situation is very much pronounced in residential areas due to the lack of readily available and relatively cheap road-building materials. In this paper, a project of the design and construction of low-volume roads in Dangamvura Extension, Mutare, is presented and thoroughly analyzed, with concentration on pavement structure and construction technology. Extensive geotechnical and soil investigations of the area, traffic counts and forecasting, as well as studies of suitable design parameters for pavement structure and requirements in applications of labor-based technology combined all aspects of engineering information needed for valuable conclusions and useful advice to residential estate development. Extensive laboratory studies and experiments were done to approximate the actual site conditions, thus including soil samples, California bearing ratio (CBR) at 1.5-m depth, traffic counts in a high-density area of similar coverage, and studies of natural water flows for the purpose of culverts and drains. In addition to the Zimbabwe Standards and Pavement Design Manual, a literature review and pavement structure examples of river sand seals were studied.

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Why is it important?

The research focusses on using labor-based technologies and local materials to construct roads in a residential area. Due to high construction costs using the conventional methods there is a need to reduce the costs.

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