Bituminous Surfacing

Durable and Economical Technology for

Bituminous Surfacing
of Rural Roads
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal

Introduction
The Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak
Yojna (PMGSY) has been one of the most
successful flagship programmes launched
by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee in 2000 for constructing a wide
network of rural roads across India. During
the last 17 years, a total of 5,29,975 km
of PMGSY roads has been constructed
connecting villages of over 500 people,
which is a commendable task!
Two technologies (surface dressing and
premix carpet) are specified in India’s ‘Rural
Roads Manual’ for bituminous surfacing of
rural roads such as those under PMGSY.
Either of these two technologies are
permitted. Both are also standardized by
the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).
Surface dressing (also called chip seal)
consists of spraying a thick film of bitumen
over the compacted stone base layer
(called water bound macadam) with the
help of a bitumen truck tank distributor
at a specified rate. This is
followed by spreading stone
chips (aggregate) at a specified
rate by a mechanized chip
spreader (available from many
manufacturers in Gujarat and
costing less than Rs. 2.5 lakhs).
Stone chips are then compacted
with a road roller so as to
embed/fix them (about 70%)
into the sprayed thick bitumen layer. This
completes the surface dressing operation
as illustrated in Figure 1.
The premix carpet (PMC) simply consists
of single size (about 12 mm) stone chips
mixed with 3.5% bitumen by weight at a
hot mix plant. PMC is highly open graded
because the mix does not contain any fine
aggregate (sand). This mix is laid in 20 mm
thickness manually or with a paver. A sand
seal coat is provided at the top.
The objective of this paper is to discuss
these two technologies in detail and
recommend the one which is better both in
terms of durability and economics.
History of Bituminous
Surfacing
When the author was serving as a highway
engineer in the Rajasthan PWD during the
early 1960s, it was very common to use
bituminous surface dressing (SD) or chip
sealing on most types of roads. Surface
Figure 1: Schematic of surface dressing
dressing was very effective in water-
proofing the water-bound macadam (WBM)
roads because of heavy bitumen application
rate followed by chip application. Surface
dressing was scheduled once in 3 or 4
years on all roads. Very few potholes dotted
the roads at that time, and traffic volumes
were generally less. Road construction was
largely manual and hardly mechanized.
Bitumen for surface dressing was applied
with perforated tin cans. Spreading the
surface aggregate (chips) by hand was
an art learnt through practice, usually
by swirling the basket containing the
aggregate.
As is often usual with surface dressing,
chips were dislocated and became loose if
the treated road was opened too soon to
traffic, or slow speeds were not maintained
just after construction. The finished road
surface was not black and, therefore, not
too appealing to the public.
Too overcome these perceived “problems”,
the premix carpet (PMC) was
introduced with the IRC publishing
its specification for the first time in
1962. As mentioned earlier, road
construction was still manual.
Single size chips (nominal size
12 mm) were either broken by
labourers by hand or obtained from
stone crusher plants (if available
nearby). Hot bitumen was applied

2 NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018


as tack coat through perforated tin cans.
The mix containing almost single size
aggregate (11.2 mm to 13.2 mm) could
easily be coated with about 3-3.5%
bitumen either by hand on flat pans placed
over wooden log fire; or small drums
rotated by hand; or small portable mixing
plants. Under such circumstances, graded
aggregate could not be used.
The mix was taken in hand carts and
spread over tack coated road surface
using hand rakes. After rolling, the road
surface appeared “shining” black, with no
loose stones and impressive looking to
the public, unlike surface dressing. It was
realized that PMC was highly permeable
to rainwater due to single size aggregate
being used in the mix. Therefore, the use
of sand seal coat was warranted to seal
the surface of the open graded mix. Sand
was mixed with about 7 percent bitumen,
applied on the open surface, and rolled.
With the advent of the PMC, surface
dressing started to die across India and is
almost non-existent in many states such
as Rajasthan. It is ironical that surface
dressing is still being used extensively and
successfully on low to medium-trafficked
roads in developed countries such as
USA, Australia, New Zealand, and South
Africa. Some Indian engineers argue
that surface dressing is successful in
those countries because the construction
(bitumen application and chip spreading) is
mechanized there. However, the engineers
can mandate bitumen distributors
(already available for tack coat work)
Figure 2: Typical chip spreader manufactured in Gujarat
NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018 3
Bituminous Surfacing
and mechanized chip spreaders (being
manufactured in Gujarat). A typical chip
spreader is shown in Figure 2.
The PMC has probably served India well
for over 50 years especially during the
time mechanization was almost not there.
However, due to significant increase in
vehicular traffic, and PMC’s inherent water-
trapping characteristics, its service life has
decreased significantly in recent years.
Time has now come to think out of the box
and consider surface dressing in lieu of
PMC for low to medium-trafficked roads,
because it is highly economical as well as
highly effective in water-proofing the road
pavement (as discussed later).
Premix Carpet (PMC)
The undesirable water-trapping
characteristic of the PMC, which causes
potholes due to increased hydraulic
pressure under traffic, is discussed below:
To keep things in perspective, let’s
compare PMC with open graded asphalt
friction course (OGFC), which is used in
developed countries primarily for road
safety. Although, OGFC is not used in India,
experience with OGFC is applicable to
PMC used in India in certain aspects. Both
are highly water permeable (porous) mixes
and are placed 20mm thick. The OGFC
is placed on dense bituminous concrete
(similar to BC Grading 2) to provide a skid-
resistant wearing surface during rainfall or
when the pavement is wet. The rainwater
penetrates the open surface of the OGFC;
goes to its bottom; then flows within 20mm
Figure 3: Surface water entering the premix carpet (PMC) through an
unsealed area saturating it under the seal as well, causing stripping within
PMC and the underlying bituminous course when subjected to traffic loads
thick OGFC towards the shoulders; and
then exits from the exposed edge of the
OGFC onto the shoulders. Since there is
no rainwater on the surface of OGFC, there
is no hydroplaning or skidding of motor
vehicles on its surface. OGFC is highly
permeable to water since it has over 18%
air voids. OGFC is durable despite high
air voids because it has about 6 percent
polymer modified bitumen content, which
provides a thick bitumen film around the
aggregate particles.
The premix carpet (PMC) on the other
hand, is substantially more open graded
and more porous than the OGFC because
the former uses very coarse aggregate
(nominal size of 11.2 to 13.2mm) and
no fine aggregate. Its air void content is
estimated to be over 25%. Although, a
sand seal coat is provided on the surface
of the PMC, it is not completely effective in
making the PMC water-proof at the surface.
Even if there is a small patch where the
PMC has lost its sand seal, the surface
water on the road can penetrate it at that
spot, flow sidewards like in OGFC, and
flood the entire PMC below the sand seal
(Figure 3). The hydraulic pressure induced
by traffic in the water trapped within the
PMC below the seal coat is likely to cause
stripping within the PMC and the underlying
bituminous course. If the underlying course
is water bound macadam (WBM) or water
mixed macadam (WMM), it would get
saturated and lose its strength, especially if
it contains some plastic material.
 Bituminous Surfacing

Figure 4: Field permeability of PMC without any sand seal coat Figure 5: Field permeability of PMC with moderate sand seal coat

The surface water permeability of an in-
service PMC was determined recently
with a grease ring method. Although it
is a simple, crude, falling head water
permeability test, it does give some
relative permeability values. A ring of about
225mm in diameter and about 25mm high
is made on the road surface to be tested
using heavy grease. Putty can also be
used in lieu of heavy grease. The ring is
filled with water upto a depth of 12.5mm
and a timer is started. Time taken by the
water to penetrate and disappear from the
road surface is measured in seconds as a
measure of relative water permeability.
The first test (Fig. 4) was made on PMC
without any seal coat. It was not even
possible to fill the ring with water because
it was penetrating the PMC as fast as
it was poured. On filling rapidly, water
penetrated fully in about 5 seconds. The
second test (Fig. 5) was made on PMC
with moderate amount of sand seal coat.
The measured field permeability was 105
seconds. The third test (Fig. 6) was made
on PMC with adequate amount of sand
seal coat. The measured field permeability
was 545 seconds, which is still considered
very high. It is not uncommon to see non-
uniform application of sand seal coat
on PMC because it is usually spread
manually. It is a matter of great concern.
During a similar test on BC wearing course,
water remained at 12.5mm level for hours,
therefore, the field water permeability was
almost zero (Fig. 7).
More field permeability test data has been
obtained by students at Rasta, Bangalore;
IIT Guwahati; MNIT, Jaipur; and Kautilya
College of Engineering, Jaipur. A steel
ring (Figure 8) rather than grease or putty
ring was used to expedite testing. Unlike
BC, the test data has indicated a very wide
range of water permeability from very high
(60 seconds) to almost none. As mentioned
earlier, it appears to be a function of
variability in sand seal coat application in
terms of its quality, quantity and mode of
application. Practically, it is not possible to
apply consistent and adequate amount of
sand seal coat throughout a PMC project.
Recent detailed investigations by IIT
Guwahati have also shown PMC to be
highly permeable to water.
It is quite evident from the preceding field
experiments that generally the PMC with
sand seal coat would easily take in and trap
water during rains in many cases. Once the
PMC is saturated with water, the hydraulic
pressure resulting from traffic above can

Figure 6: Field permeability of PMC with adequate sand seal coat Figure 7: Field permeability of BC Grading 2

4 NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018


Figure 8: Steel ring used for field permeability test
loosen up the sand seal in other areas
of the PMC. This phenomenon has been
observed on Jaipur streets (Figure 9). As
already mentioned, the hydraulic pressure
also causes stripping in the PMC as well
as in the underlying bituminous courses, if
any. That is why; PMC deteriorates rather
rapidly during monsoons, especially in
towns and cities where streets usually get
flooded. The average life of PMC in Jaipur
is about 1-2 years. Its bitumen content is
about 3.5 percent.
Obviously, there are cases where PMC
with good, uniform sand seal coat and/
or very dry climate has endured well.
However, fundamentally, the question is
why to place a highly porous bituminous
mix like PMC in the first place and then try
to seal it. There is no available data as to
what depth, if any, the estimated 6mm thick
sand seal coat really penetrates the 20mm
thick PMC when rolled.
PMC is used only in India; it is not used in
developed countries. There are numerous
other questions related to PMC which
need to be answered: total air voids in
PMC; absolute volume of sand seal coat;
unfilled voids in PMC; depth of sand seal
penetration in PMC; its performance and
durability, etc. It is surprising to note as to
why no such research was conducted in
India during the last 60 years to answer
these legitimate questions. On the other
hand, hundreds of research papers have
been published across the world on
NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018 5
Bituminous Surfacing
Figure 9: Failure of premix carpet (PMC) during the first monsoon
surface dressing in terms of its rational
design, construction and performance.
There is hardly any research in India where
PMC is used, especially on its structure,
volumetric, performance and durability.
It appears there is only a “conventional
wisdom” that PMC does work and is “good”
for India and, therefore, there is no need
for any research on it.
No published data on the average life of
PMC in India could be found either. Some
PMGSY engineers revealed its average
service life to be 2 years without significant
distress such as ravelling and potholes.
Above all, the cost of PMC is about three
times the cost of surface dressing. This is
not acceptable.
If the PMC is a panacea for low to
medium trafficked roads in India, why is
this technology not used in developed
countries? However, that would require
sound engineering justification, which is
almost non-existent and hard to come by
in case of PMC.
Time has come now to ban PMC altogether
because its continued use cannot be
justified technically as well as economically,
be it city streets, low volume roads (such
as PMGSY), or medium to high volume
roads.
Surface Dressing
The alternative for PMC in India is surface
dressing, which, as described earlier, has
the following advantages:
within Jaipur city
• It is very cheap at `2.62 lakhs per km
compared to PMC’s `7.88 lakhs per km.
• Due to thick sprayed film of bitumen, it is
highly effective in waterproofing the road.
Water is the biggest enemy of bituminous
road and should be kept away from the
road surface.
• Minimizes oxidation of bitumen because
it is present as a thick film and stone
chips provide protection from sun rays
• Environment-friendly because chips
need not be heated
• Contractors cannot use lower bitumen
application rate because after
construction the stone chips would be
lost with the movement of traffic
• Indian Roads Congress has an excellent
standard for designing and ensuring
good quality surface dressing
• Surface dressing is used successfully in
both developing and developed countries
(such as USA, Europe, and Australia) for
blacktopping low and medium trafficked
roads. No other country besides India
uses premix carpet
• Hundreds of research papers have been
published on surface dressing across
the world to fine tune this technology.
(The author has published two papers in
international journals).
For low to medium-trafficked roads where
PMC is used right now, it is recommended
to use single or double surface treatment. If
‘black” road surface is desirable for surface
dressing to “impress” motoring public as
 Bituminous Surfacing
well as minimize chip loss, precoated
chips can be used. It should be noted all
these alternatives are much cheaper than
the PMC (as shown in Table 1). Note that
the cost of single coat surface dressing is
only 1/3 of the cost of PMC. The cost of
the same with precoated chips increases
to only 40% of the cost of PMC. It is not
understood as to why it cannot be used on
low volume roads such as PMGSY, which
would save India thousands of crores of
rupees every year. Even if double surface
dressing with precoated chips is used, its
cost is only three-fourth the cost of PMC.
Obviously, the highway agencies have to
mandate the use of mechanized bitumen
distributor and chip spreader, which are
already available in India, to ensure the
functional success of surface dressing.
Bituminous Concrete in
lieu of Premix Carpet
For medium to heavy-trafficked roads and
city roads, use BC Grading 2 in lieu of the
PMC. Although it is permissible to lay BC
6 NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018
Grading 2 in 25-40 mm depth according to
IRC:111- 2009, it is preferable to use 40mm
depth to ensure adequate compaction
during construction (thin lifts cool rapidly).
Although the initial cost of 40mm BC
Grading 2 is about 50% more than the cost
of 20mm PMC, BC Grading 2 is actually
24.1% cheaper than the PMC based on
lifecycle cost analysis (LCCA) given in
the Annexure. This is a very conservative
analysis in that the remaining service life,
salvage value, maintenance expenses, and
user operating costs were not considered,
which all favour BC. Therefore, savings
will be much more than 24.1 percent.
More importantly, BC Grading 2 provides
significant structural strength to the road
pavement for future traffic growth, whereas
PMC has almost zero structural strength.
If there is some reluctance to use surface
dressing in lieu of the PMC on rural roads,
40mm BC Grading 2 can be placed directly
on water bound macadam (WBM) or water
mixed macadam (WMM), as practiced in
developed countries.
Enormous Cost
Savings
Cost savings of over `22,000
crores could have resulted if
surface dressing was used
in lieu of PMC since the
inception of the Pradhan
Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojna
(PMGSY) in 2000. In addition,
if the changeover is made
now, cost savings of over
`4,400 crores can be realized
every year in resurfacing
already constructed rural
roads. This big saving can
be used in building and
upgrading more lengths of
rural roads in India.
The preceding cost savings
have been estimated based
on the following assumptions:
• PMGSY roads constructed
so far: 5,29,975 km
• Ratio of premix carpet and
surface dressing: 80:20
• Cost of premix carpet and
surface dressing per km: `7.88 lakhs
and `2.62 lakhs, respectively (based on
2012 Rajasthan PWD Basic Schedule of
Rates)
• 5-year cycle of renewal of surface for
existing roads.
Implementation of Surface
Dressing
Individuals cannot be blamed for this
collective “conventional wisdom” of using
premix carpet for over 50 years despite
the fact that it is highly expensive and
is an undesirable technology. However,
some engineers who “like” premix carpet
would like to maintain the status quo and
would make one or more of the following
misleading statements (author’s response
is in parenthesis):
1. Premix carpet is “good” for India. (It is
just an unfounded vague statement; if it
is good why have we not been able to
convince and export this technology to
rest of the world?)
2. I have seen it perform well. (Not all jobs
fail, but fundamentally it is water-trapping

and therefore premature potholing is
highly likely).
3. It provides structural strength to the
road. (This is absolutely wrong. Both
surface dressing and premix carpet do
not contribute to structural strength of
the road).
4. It provides a black and shiny surface
and is laid sometimes with a paver,
which pleases the public. (This seems
to indicate public perception is more
important than proper engineering and
the welfare of our country in terms of
costs and performance).
5. Let’s undertake some research projects
to compare the performance of premix
carpet versus surface dressing. (This
is just a delaying tactic. Satisfactory
performance of surface dressing has
been proven and reported worldwide.
Moreover, India’s Rural Roads Manual
allows either one so why not use surface
dressing which costs only one-third of
premix carpet. The Manual also states
that surface dressing is an age-old
technique that really seals the road well).
6. Let’s set up some demonstration project
to “reintroduce” surface dressing. (Again,
it is just a delaying tactic. Why do it when
we have an excellent and easy to follow
IRC standard for surface dressing for
our road engineers? Most states have
surface dressing as item in their Basic
Schedule of Rates. If notices inviting
tenders are issued, Indian engineers/
contractors are smart to execute the
contracts without any problem).
Summary
India’s Rural Roads Manual permits two
technologies: surface dressing or premix
carpet for bituminous surfacing of rural
NBM&CW SEPTEMBER 2018 7
Bituminous Surfacing
roads. Both have been standardized by the
Indian Roads Congress. However, premix
carpet is highly expensive (three times the
cost of surface dressing); generally, soaks
up water readily which results in early
potholes; and not used anywhere in the
world. Surface dressing is cheap (only one-
third the cost of premix carpet); makes the
road highly waterproof thus less potential
for potholes; and is used successfully
throughout the world. Therefore, there is no
doubt that surface dressing has significant
advantages over premix carpet in terms of
life (performance) and cost. Besides new
construction, savings of over `4,400 crore
can be realized per year for resurfacing
existing rural roads if surface dressing is
used in lieu of premix carpet.
Annexure
Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of
Premix Carpet (PMC) and Bituminous
Concrete (BC) Grading 2
Analysis period = 6 years
Assumptions:
• Average life of 20 mm PMC with sand
seal coat = 3 years (real 2 years)
• Average life of 40 mm BC Grading 2 = 6
years (real 7-8 years)
[This means 20 mm PMC will be required
for rehabilitation of the pavement after 3
years.]
• Cost of 20 mm PMC per km lane = 7.88
lakhs
• Cost of 40 mm BC Grading 2 per km
lane = 12.00 lakhs
• Real discount rate = 4%
• Net present value (NPV) = Initial cost +
Rehab cost (1/(1+r)n)
• Salvage value considered equal after
the 6 years analysis period (although
BC would have a significantly higher
structural strength whereas PMC
strength is almost zero)
• Remaining service life after analysis
period of 6 years considered equal
(although BC would have more service
life because it is dense graded)
• No maintenance activity considered
during the 6-year period (although PMC
is likely to require some activity)
• User operating costs considered equal
(although BC would provide a smoother
ride and less operating costs).
Deterministic Approach was used for LCCA,
which is easy and is used traditionally. The
Net Present Value (NPV) was calculated
for PMC and BC for the 6-year period as
follows:
NPV of PMC = 14.89 lakhs
NPV of BC Grading 2 = 12.00 lakhs
This means, PMC is 24.1% more expensive
than BC Grading 2. If the remaining service
life, salvage value, maintenance costs, and
user operating costs are considered (which
all are in favour of BC), PMC would be much
more expensive than 24.1 percent, which
was calculated with very conservative
assumptions, listed above.
About the author
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal is Associate
Director Emeritus of the National Center
for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) based
at Auburn University, Alabama, U.S.A.
NCAT is the largest asphalt (bitumen)
road technology center in the world. Prof.
Kandhal has been a practicing highway
engineer in India for over 20 years and in
the US for 30 years. He has drafted many
standards for the Indian Roads Congress
including specifications for dense graded
bituminous mixes, stone matrix asphalt and
readymade pothole patching mix.