Road Deterioration

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The importance of highways for the prosperity of any country cannot be over emphasized. The development of roads starts a chain reaction of atomic nature. It opens up new avenues or increases employment in the agriculture, industry, commerce health and sanitation sector by inherent virtue of being a communication and transport link between the developed areas.
The road, so necessary an instrument of social well being that in every new country it is one of the first things that is being thought of. The great essence or need for roads came about due to the invention of the wheel, some 5,000 years ago. The increasing rate of highway deterioration has become a source of great concern to both the Engineers and the people using it. There is a great need to ascertain the various causes of the deterioratory state of our roads. And some of the ways to ascertain the causes of deterioration is to carryout trial bore hole,site investigation, and also traffic census.
The major reason for unsatisfactory state of road construction in Nigeria, is the low priority given to road development and maintenance, also responsible, is the lack of concern for human life and proper qualification and experience to do a particular job. The construction of roads, require expert’s in the field, so that the road will be able to carryout its basic function effectively, and survive its life expectancy of years. This is in order to avoid the premature failure of our roads, which is an existing fact currently in Imo State, particularly on the road leading from Naze Junction to Futo Gate which forms the basis of this project. There is not just one type of road failure, so the issue of the premature deterioration of our roads requires finance, and experienced knowledge.

1.2 AREA OF STUDY
The road leading from Naze Junction to Futo Gate is located in Owerri, the capital of Imo State. The road was constructed in the year 1977/1978, by Mezu construction company during the honourable regime of Late Dr. Sam Onunaka Mbakwe the, then executive governor of Imo State.
The road leading from Naze Junction to Futo Gate is a ring road, provided to enable the free flow of traffic. It has a total length of about 6.00km, and has a lane width of about 7.3m. The road was constructed of Asphaltic Surfacing. It is a Surface dressed flexible pavement of single carriage way which has no shoulder. The routine maintenance work is been handled by the office of the Ministry of Works, housing and transport Owerri and currently the maintenance work has been awarded to Hardel and Erice construction company, a company owned by Chief Iwuanyanwu.

1.3 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The road leading from Naze Junction to Futo Gate has lost its original shape and design. It has deteriorated to the state that the Asphaltic Surfacing of some parts of the roads have gone off. This state of deterioration is a problem because, it does not effectively serve one of the purposes of construction which is to convey people and goods effectively. Due to its deterioratory state, when rain falls it is difficult for people and cars to ply the road because of it’s bad nature, this results in the breaking down of vehicles in the middle of the road and rendering the occupants of the vehicles helpless, and this broken down vehicles in turn, causes traffic congestions.
If this road is not properly reconstructed and maintained properly so many lives would be lost and goods would be wasted. And the area will be totally inaccessible.

1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The following are the objectives of this study:
1. To evaluate the cause of the deterioration of the road leading from Naze Junction to Futo Gate.
2. To uncover the pains which the people of this area are subjected to as a result of the deplorable condition of the road.
3. To find and comment on the economic importance of the Naze Futo Gate road to its people and the people of Imo State.
4. To proffer solution which will be suitable enough to remedy this road from deteriorating.
5. Finally to suggest measures to help minimize or stop the occurrence of the deterioration of our Nigerian roads.

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION
There are so many ways of determining the cause of road deterioration and they include, soil test, drainage designing, CBR test, compaction, traffic count, test on the various layer of the road structure, Atterberg limit etc. But due to the circumstances surrounding this study and my inability and unavailability of machines/equipments to carryout some of this test. This project is only limited to the determining of only the soil test, Atterberg limit, and traffic count of the road.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE
The significance of this project include:
1. To prepare a paper that will serve as an academic tool, to help students handle related projects in future with confidence.
2. To state its value to the inhabitants of the Naze Junction to Futo Gate Road, as it will in no small measure help to alleviate transport and traffic problems currently being experienced by its people, and users.

1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
1. CARRIAGE WAY: It is the portion of the road designed and constructed for vehicular traffic.
2. DETERIORATION: It is a gradual process whereby a structure losses its initial quality or value due to age or defective construction. If not given attention from time to time.
3. HIGHWAY: In a road system the important road like national highway and provincial highways are called highways.
4. PREMATURE FAILURE: This is said to occur when the material what ever it is, i.e wearing course, surface dressing or structural concrete etc, has failed before its predicted design life has expired.
5. ROAD: It is defined as a convenient way over which vehicles and all sots of traffic can law fully move.
6. RING ROAD: It is a road constructed around an Urban Area to enable free flow of traffic.
7. SHOULDER: It is the portion immediately beyond the edges of a carriage way on which vehicular traffic may pass occasionally.
8. SUB-GRADE: This is the top surface of a road bed on which the pavement structure and shoulders including Kerbs are constructed.
9. TRAFFIC CENSUS: This is the determination of the Average Daily Volume (ADV) of vehicular traffic that uses a road hourly, in order to determine the total volume of traffic anticipated during the design life of the pavement/road.