Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Highway Maintenance Using Foamed Bitumen: A Case Of Ambo To Gedo Road Segment

Abstract

Highway maintenance is one of the major tasks to provide safety and comfort for road users. It comprises an activities such as keeping pavement slopes, drainage facilities, patching, filling joints and all structures and property. Foamed bitumen is sprayed into the mixing drum where it the surface (typically 0.075mm) and a soft material having complex behavior which consists hot bitumen, quantities of water 2-5% and it produced when the water and air is injecting into hot bitumen at 150-180oC. Lack of regular maintenance of road create a rapidly fall into disrepair and preventing realization of the longer term impacts of road improvement on development. The road surface types of Ambo to Gedo road is paved road and trunk road (A4). On Ambo to Gedo road segment a significant rising of vehicle operating costs, travel time and their associated human and property costs are happened due to lack of proper and regular maintenance. These problems were identified through assessing existing conditions of road, to estimating the maintenance cost of road using foamed bitumen and to determining the benefit gained of road maintenance using foamed bitumen by present worth analysis. A vehicles, passengers, drivers and engineers are the population of the study. The study followed purposive sampling method and employed mixed analytical and descriptive research approach. The maintenance cost and travel fare were collected from Ethiopian Road Authority and transport authority respectively. The travel time were measured and counted directly on road segment. The maintenance cost, travel time saving, vehicle operating saving and travel fare saving were analyzed using the present worth of benefit and cost. The entire road segment revealed that 40%poor, 33.85%good and 26.15%fair conditions. The total benefit and maintenance cost were 951,393,933.9ETB and 295,824,304.1ETB. Finally the result of analysis, B/C is greater than 1 which is 3.216 using foamed bitumen and 2.71, without foamed bitumen, means were the maintenance cost pay back and there is additional saving of benefit which show maintenance cost is less than the benefit gained, so the maintaining road periodically saves and it reduce the reconstruction of road cost and one contribute role to increase the economic activity of the area. Recommend to the road authorities need to give more emphasis on road maintenance activity, period and quality of maintenance using foamed bitumen