Self-Healing Roads: Next Plan of NHAI

Potholes and broken roads are some of the main reasons for road accidents in India. In a developing country like ours, keeping all the roads even gets difficult. But things may change for good now, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to bring a self-sustainable solution to counter problems like potholes and road breakage.

The new road-building technique in which roads will be built using a special kind of bitumen, steel fibres, epoxy capsules, and asphalt. 

DD News reported that whenever a crack is formed on the road, these steel fibres will heat up and melt the bitumen so the gap created by the crack is filled automatically. If this turns out exactly how it has been planned, the roads may be able to self-heal without human intervention. 

The primary causes of road cracks are precipitation, overloaded vehicles and overheating. These cracks make way for water to seep in, which hollows the inner base layer of the asphalt resulting in small potholes and then the small potholes keep getting bigger until they are repaired. These potholes become a liability to road safety and also cause traffic congestion. After the roads are built with this new technique, the steel fibres and bitumen will work in tandem, thereby increasing the durability of roads.  

Asphalt is currently the most widely used material in road construction across the globe. This material is durable, versatile, and sustainable, which offers smooth ride quality if constructed properly and that’s why some places like aviation runways, parking lots, etc., are also built using asphalt.

The only downside of asphalt-made roads is the frequent crack. It's a natural phenomenon which can’t be avoided, but by infusing bitumen, steel fibres and asphalt; NHAI may be able to tackle this problem. This will result in the increased durability of roads and reduce the potholes, as a result, it will lower road accidents and casualties.

The government is still thoroughly reviewing the pros and cons of this new technology. Self-healing roads looks like a promising solution, but authorities need to analyse the performance and durability as compared to the conventional method of making tarmac that we have today. This project can be a piece of positive news for all the citizens in the country, but we hope that it gets implemented.