Keeping its commitment to encourage use of waste material to build ecologically sustainable National Highway Infrastructure, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) along with Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers is going to take up field trials on NHAI projects.
The aim is to assess use of Phosphor-Gypsum in National Highway construction to achieve a circular economy in the use of Gypsum.
Phosphor-Gypsum is a by-product of fertilizer production. An Indian fertilizer company has constructed a road using Phosphor-Gypsum.
The road was evaluated by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and based on their report, the Indian Road Congress (IRC) has accredited neutralized Phosphor-Gypsum waste material for road construction for a period of three years.
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 its waste material in Highway construction.
NHAI is also encouraging use of waste plastic in road construction, which has already been tested 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 tons of plastic waste.
Similarly, NHAI has used ‘Fly Ash’; fine residue of coal combustion in the Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) 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.