ROAD MAINTENANCE AND NATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT.

BY

ENGR. (DR.) Y. A. ABDULKAREEM

AND

ENGR. K. A. ADEOTI
ABSTRACT

The Increasing demand for road transport in Nigeria and the huge
Government investments on roads have generated the need
to encourage road maintenance and sustainability . This paper
identified the primary role of road maintenance as that of
preserving the condition of the roads and its ability to carry
the intended traffic, safely, comfortably an d economically.For
road maintenance programme to be effective, adequate
funding, sufficient trained manpower, adherence to loading
regulation and the establishment of organizational structures
that can effectively perform the task are essential.
Effective road maintenance programme reduces vehicle
operating costs, extends the life of pavements and results in
significant savings on rehabilitation and re-construction.
Road maintenance also contributes to national
development in the areas of employment; generation,
improved agricultural production enhanced industrial growth
and stimulates technological growth.
1.0 Introduction
Due to its large coverage and ability to provide door to door
services, road transportation is most patronized among other modes of
transportation especially in developing nations like Nigeria. It was
estimated that road transportation carries about 95% of the national
passenger & freight services and provides the only access to rural
communities where majority of the economically active population lives.
Road construction in Nigeria received a major boost in the 1970's
during the "oil boom" era and has since then become a major component
of annual capital budgets at both the states and national levels.
The national road network grew from its total length of 6,500Km in
1960 to 10,000Km in 1970 to 29, 000Km in 1980 and is presently estimated at
200,000Km.
With the corresponding increase in traffic volumes on our roads,
characterized by varying composition and axle loads road deterioration and
failure are experienced.
This ugly development started affecting service delivery to our rural
and urban areas. Our road transportation system began to suffer losses
due to high operating costs leading to some being grounded. The need to
place emphasis on road maintenance started to manifest.
Unfortunately the financial and technical requirements for effective
maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction became so staggering that
the rate of maintenance could not be matched with the deterioration.
It is the Intention of this paper to examine pertinent issues in road
maintenance in our national development and make recommendations for
an improved road network.

2.0 Definition
a. Road Maintenance:
 Simply put, it involves activities programmed to preserve the
road infrastructure. This means that during the design life of the road,
conscious efforts must be made to arrest the various deteriorations
that take place on it. The purpose for this course of action is to ensure
that the road provides an acceptable level of service to the users for
substantial period of its service life.
b. Road Infrastructure:
This can be described as composed of the followings:
I. The carriage way
Ii The pedestrian facilities (where applicable)

iii. Drainage system

iv. Culverts (Box or Ring types)
v. Bridges and flyovers
vi. Street light Installations
vii. Traffic signs
viii. Traffic Islands etc,
c. National Development
National development has been described as "the
capacity of political systems to initiate and domesticate positive
changes, including meeting basic needs,; democratization and
social justice as well as becoming increasingly less dependent on
international capitalism"
3.0 The Nigerian Road Network and Road Administration
Over the years, the federal, state and local governments
have shared the responsibility for the development and maintenance
of roads in Nigeria.
 The roads therefore fail into three main categories. First the federal
trunk roads, which link the major parts in the country, the main urban
centers and state capitals, the major centers of economic activity and the
Major border crossing, to neighboring countries. Next the state roads,
which feed into federal trunk roads, and the farm-to-market roads. The
Third category consists of rural roads and city streets, which are the
responsibilities of local governments. The size of the total network of
roads in Nigeria, excluding private roads, is estimated at 193,200Km. This
is shown in Table 1. This huge investment, whose replacement value is
put at over N3500bn (US $25bn) in 2003 is a significant proportion of the
nation's wealth! The maintenance of these roads is a crucial process for
the preservation of this asset.
Table 1: Estimated size of the Road Network in Nigeria.
Road Length KM
Ownership Paved Unpaved Total
Federal 26,500 5,600 32,100
State 10,400 20,100 30,500
Local 2,600 128,000 130,600
Total 39,500 153,700 193,200
"

4.0 Causes of Road Deterioration and Failure

In order to examine methods of highway maintenance, the causes
of structural failure must be defined and analyzed so that remedial
measures will prevent, reduce or correct these failures. The main causes
of deterioration resulting into failures of a road pavement are as follows.

I. The action of traffic, with heavy goods vehicles having the greatest
detrimental effect: The predominant cause of deterioration is due to
 vertical deformation in the wheel tracks. Every vehicle that passes
over a pavement induces transient strains in the pavement layers and
the sub-grade. The magnitude of these transient strains will vary
greatly according to the magnitude of the wheel load and the effect of
the temperature and moisture conditions on the stress-strain
properties of the pavement material and sub-grade at the time of
application of the load. When a transient strain due to a wheel load
exceeds a certain critical value in one or more of the pavement layers or
sub-grade, small non-recoverable strain remains in that. Layer after
the vehicle has passed. The accumulation of these minute strains
appears first as cracks and later as potholes and other surface
deficiencies.
ii. The action of weather, rain and heat.
iii. Unstable ground conditions and poor drainage.
iv. Construction materials & methods.
v. Post construction activities like, digging of trenches along the road.
Dumping of building materials and other obstructions on the road,
uncontrolled street trading. Etc.
vi. Poor workmanship
vii. Inadequate maintenance.
5.0 Classification of Road Maintenance Activities
In order to ensure proper planning preparatory to actual budgeting
For maintenance, there is need to categorize the options available for
Maintenance activities.
a. Routine maintenance: This consists of operations that normally need
to be repeated one or more times every year, e.g. control of
vegetation, cleaning of ditches and culverts, maintenance of bridges, crack
sealing, seal coats, maintenance of road signalization and repairs to
shoulders.
b. Recurrent maintenance: These activities may be required at
intervals throughout the year; the frequency varies with traffic,
Topography and climate. They include repairing pot-holes, surface
patching, edge repairs, and road surface markings.
c. Periodic maintenance: As a pavement is subjected to significant
traffic and the ageing process progress, sufficient distress occurs.
These activities are required to maintain acceptable safety ,
adequate drainage and adequate riding surface, and retard the
failure of the various pavement layers. Such activities include, re-
graveling of gravel roads, re-surfacing of bituminous surface
dressing and paved roads.
d. Urgent or special maintenance works: These include removal of
debris, fallen trees, broken down vehicles, erection of warning signs
and construction of diversions. They must be carried out with
minimum delay to avoid danger to traffic.
When significant periodic maintenance activities are needed on a
pavement, it is generally time to begin programming for a minor
rehabilitation. A stage will be reached when the pavement will need to be
strengthened by a major rehabilitation or re-construction. This stage more
or less defines the service life of the original pavement which is between
15 and 25 years.
6.0 Funding for Road Maintenance
The World Bank and the TYRRP (Ten Year Road Recovery
Programme) estimated the following funding requirements for bringing all
roads to good and fair conditions within Ten Years, Annual Road
maintenance N34bn ($300m) Annual Rehabilitation N45Bn ($400m) Total
W9bn ($700m).
Total requirement of TYRRP was N790Bn ($7Bn).
 Funding for Road maintenance comes from annual budget. The
inadequate and irregular funding from this source contributes to the poor
condition of the road network.
The under-listed alternative sources of funding are hereby proposed to
enable the local, states and federal governments cope with the road
maintenance funding,
(I) Apart from the usual annual vehicle license obtained for every
Category of vehicles, an acceptable annual levy could be charged for
Various categories of vehicles. Stake holders meetings at
Community levels of all local governments could be organized to
Explain the advantages of the levy on improved road conditions.
Annual levy of N1000 - N5000 depending on vehicle type and axle
Load could be charged,
(ii) Other areas that could be used are parking fees and fines for illegal
Parking, road worthiness testing, hackney permit, licensing of public
Service vehicles and services,
(Ill) The Imposition of fuel levy could generate quick fund. This should
Be done tactically In the light of the presently unstable high cost of
Petrol and other petroleum products. Such levy should
be proportionally disbursed to the 3-tlers of government for
properly monitored road maintenance programmed.
(iv) Private sector initiative and community participation on road
infrastructure maintenance should be encouraged and done to mutually
acceptable specifications and standard.
7.0 Approaches to Road Maintenance
It is necessary to discuss the various approaches to road
maintenance over the years so as to acknowledge the efforts of
government.
Traditionally and for a long time road maintenance has been put.
Under the civil service procedure, through the federal and state ministry of
works and housing. Other approaches included the establishment of
DFRRl (Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure) 1986 -1993,
ADP (Agricultural Development Projects) in various states, the defunct PTF
(Petroleum Trust Fund) and the Road Maintenance Agency (RMA) in some
States (Lagos, Ogun, kwara etc).
Recently (2002) the National Assembly passed a Bill establishing
the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to give impetus to road
maintenance.
From experience, putting road maintenance under the civil service
procedure is not effective and should not be encouraged. This is why the
current approach through FERMA, RMAs and KWARMA should be given
all necessary support to succeed, with the government taking the lead
through adequate funding and equipment procurement and the training and
retraining of engineers and other technical staff, who are expected to
demonstrate high level of commitment.
In each of the aforementioned approaches work execution is based
on these two methods:
1. Direct Labor Maintenance: The agency undertakes the repair
through their work force, equipment and procurement of
maintenance materials.
2. Maintenance by Contract: The services of reputable contractors
having asphalt plants, necessary equipments and man power are
engaged. The supervision is done by the client or through
consultants engaged by the-clients. This sector is presently
dominated by foreign multinational executing about 85% of road
construction, rehabilitation and maintenance.
8.0 Economic Benefits in Road Maintenance
A part from savings in the cost of preservation of national, investment
on roads, substantial reduction in vehicle operating cost and other road
User’s benefits, other economic benefits of road maintenance that
Enhances national development are as follows:
A. Employment Creation: All road maintenance agencies create
employment opportunities for various categories of citizens and help in
poverty eradication. The recently established KWMC (Kwara
Waste Management Company) in 2003 by the State government, to
undertake routine maintenance on Intra city roads among other
activities has provided employment opportunity to hundreds of
Youths in the State. Other Agencies like DFRRI, KWARMA, RTF,
RMA, ADP, and FERMA provided employment opportunities to
thousands of Nigerian.
B. Agricultural Production: Past and present efforts in rural road
maintenance are focused on improved Agricultural production and
creation of links between rural and urban areas for free movement of
agricultural products.
C. Industrial Development: The level of Industrialization in any
economy depends largely on the condition of its road network. This
is why governments continued to pay great attention to road
development and maintenance, as a catalyst for industrial growth.
D. Man power Development: The acquisition of technical skill in road
maintenance by Nigerian engineers and technologists through the
various road maintenance agencies will assist Nigeria in its drive
towards technological independence.
E. Research and Development: Challenges created by the road
maintenance needs have opened up tremendous opportunities for
our Research Institutions, Universities and Polytechnics in the area
of cheaper road maintenance materials and methods. These
challenges still exist.
9.0 Conclusion and Recommendation
 In this presentation we have seen that one of the greatest assets
of the nation is its road network and can only be preserved through
adequate maintenance. The road pavement suffers rapid deterioration
coming from heavy goods vehicles, poor drainage, post construction
activities, inadequate maintenance etc.
It is a matter of general opinion that for most manufacturers and
transporters in this country road transport provides the cheapest and most
practicable method of delivering their goods. Hence the condition of the,
roads greatly affect their operation.
In the face of competing demands, government budget and decisions
provide insufficient fund for road maintenance. It is desirable that those
who take decision have a clear understanding of all the factors involved.
Highway engineers should therefore be fully involved in decision affecting
road maintenance.
As a result of the increasingly high cost of road maintenance, apart
from the usual allocation from the Federation account, parts of the funds
from road-related revenues should be channeled to road maintenance.
Private sector and community participation on road maintenance should
be encouraged.
At the moment wholly-owned Nigerian contractors control only 15%
of civil engineering construction, while the multi-nationals control about
85% of the civil and building construction combined. As a result of this
dominance, most research, design and development activities are carried
out outside the country thereby impoverishing our attempts at technological
development. This may for example be responsible for our inability to
develop suitable local materials for road construction and maintenance. All
hands must be on deck to start a process of revision of this order with a
deliberate support from our governments.
 Our road administrators should enforce the law on axle loading after
effectively educating members of the public on the need, for proper loading
of trucks and their effect on the life-span of our highways.
Weigh bridges should be installed on our highways to control wheel
loading and enforced in close liaison with Transporters, the Police and the
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
An extensive training programme for all staff engaged in road
maintenance should be undertaken on continuous bases through our
Universities and Polytechnics. Recruitment of qualified personnel for
inspection and maintenance of the road infrastructure in the 3-tiers of
government is necessary.
The Blue Print for and the establishment of the Federal Roads
Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is adequate and a welcome development. It
will be necessary to give it all the tools it requires to make it function
successfully, as the success or failure of past government initiatives
depend mostly on implementation rather than the blue print.
REFERENCES
1) Adeoti K. A. (2000) "Strategies for improving Intra Urban Mass
transit Operation in Nigeria: A case study of Kwara State". NSE
"Technical Transactions, A Publication of the Nigerian Society of
Engineers (NSE) Vol. 35 No. 3, July - Sept. Edition Lagos, Nigeria.
2) Adelana O. O. (2003) "Budgeting for Roads Infrastructure
Maintenance" Conference Proceedings of the Nigerian Institution of
Civil Engineer (A division of the NSE) Lagos, Nigeria.
3) Ajani T. (2001): "Past, Present and Future of Highway Management in
Nigeria". Journal of Civil Engineering. A publication of the
Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (A division of NSE) Edition
No. 1, Lagos, Nigeria.
4) Boswell F. (2003) "Maintenance of Civil Engineering Infrastructures for
sustainable Development with Reference to Road Maintenance".
Conference Proceedings of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (A
division of the NSE), Lagos, Nigeria.
5) Ebah M. O. (1999): "Road Transport Operation and Maintenance for
Mass Transit" Proceedings of the national Engineering Conference of
the NSE, llorin, Nigerian
6) Abdulkareem Y. A. (2003) "Road Maintenance Strategy, so far, how
far" Nigerian Society of Engineers Workshop on sustainable
maintenance, strategy of Engineering Infrastructures, llorin, Nigeria.
7) Etteh E. I. I. (2004): "National Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (NEEDS): Challenges to Engineering".
Proceedings of COREN 13th Engineering Assembly, Abuja, Nigeria.
8) Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) (2004): Blue Print for
"Operation 500 Roads". Abuja, Nigeria.