Do you know it is illegal to use 60/70 and 80/100 paving bitumen?

It is very unfortunate that many of our engineers still do not know that it is illegal and
unethical to specify, produce, and use penetration graded paving bitumen such as 60/70
and 80/100.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) revised IS:73 Specification for Paving bitumen in
July 2006. The revised specification IS:73:2006 outlawed the old (more than 100 year
old) penetration grades such as 60/70 and 80/100 and adopted new viscosity grades (VG)
such as VG-30 in lieu of 60/70 and VG-10 in lieu of 80/100. The Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways (MORTH) issued Circular No. RW/NH-33041/3/2001-S&R (R)-
Vol. III on 04/08/2008 to all the state PWDs, NHAI etc. reminding them to implement the
new bitumen viscosity grades as soon as possible. According to the circular, we must
substitute VG-30 in lieu of 60/70, substitute VG-10 in lieu of 80/100, and substitute VG-
40 in lieu of 30/40 or 40/50 grades. Is that really hard to do? Just changing the
nomenclature in tender notices or project reports is not a rocket science!

A panel discussion on “Implementation of IS:73:2006 Viscosity Graded Paving Bitumen”

was held during a National Workshop on “Advances in Bitumen Technologies” sponsored
by the BIS and the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and some oil companies on 1
September 2008 in New Delhi. During the panel discussion Dr. D. K. Chaudhury, Deputy
Director General of BIS stated that national standards are formulated by involving all
stake holders (read oil companies and users) based on consensus and after detailed
discussions. Once an Indian standard is revised and gazetted, the earlier version (read
penetration grades 60/70 and 80/100) has no legal sanctity. No organization (which
includes specifiers, producers, and users) can claim the conformance of products as per
the old version.

Shri G. Sharan, Additional Director General MORTH, chaired the panel discussion and
agreed that once an Indian standard has been published/revised (in case of IS:73 it was
July 2006) that should automatically be implemented by all concerned parties.

Speakers after speakers in the National Workshop underscored the urgency for
implementing the VG grades as soon as possible so that the performance of our roads can
be improved with better quality bitumen.

It is very unfortunate that some user agencies (government and consultants) are still
ignorant and specifying penetration grades in their projects, which is illegal and
unethical; some bitumen suppliers (oil companies) are still producing penetration grades
which is illegal and unethical; and some user agencies (both government and contractors)
are still using penetration grades which is illegal and unethical. Specifying, producing,
and using substandard penetration grades must stop immediately in the interest of our
country.

The preceding comments are comparable to IS:14543 Specification for Packaged

Drinking Water. If the packaged drinking water is manufactured conforming to IS:14543,
it means its latest version IS:14543:2004 and not the old version IS:14543:1996. Whereas
substandard packaged drinking water may be injurious to your health, substandard
bitumen is injurious to our roads in terms of their performance.

In case you are aware of any violators of IS:73 specifications, please inform me with
details via e-mail so that the BIS can be informed and appropriate action instituted
against those agencies (be it an oil company, government, consultant, contractor) through
other means.

If you would like to know more about viscosity grades (VG), please read the paper, “An
Overview of the Viscosity Grading System Adopted in India for Paving Bitumen”, which
was published in the Indian Roads Congress, Indian Highways, April 2007. Click on the
following link or copy/paste in the URL:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19380488/An-Overview-of-the-Viscosity-Grading-System-
Adopted-in-India-for-Paving-Bitumen

If you are a progressive user agency (be it PWD, contractor, consultant, testing laboratory
or university) you must purchase the viscosity testing equipment as soon as possible to
monitor the grade and quality of the VG bitumen supplied by the oil companies. The
second paper at the following link will assist you in specifying and purchasing the
equipment and training your technicians with test procedures illustrated with pictures.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19384126/Bitumen-Viscosity-Testing-Equipment-and-Test-
Procedures

Let me know if additional assistance is needed.

Best regards,

Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal

Jaipur
pkandhal@eng.auburn.edu
Revised 4 September 2009