IMPROVEMENT OF SKID RESISTANCE IN COASTAL HIGHWAYS USING CRUMB RUBBER

Abstract

In Bangladesh, historical evidences show that accidents occur in the coastal areas especially in the Chittagong–Cox’s Bazar highway. Raw salt is often carried by truck from Cox’s Bazar to different parts of the country. But most of the salt businessman don’t follow the rules and regulations of salt transportation. As a result, in winter season especially during night salts deposit on the pavement while being transported and make the surface slippery. Due to the slippery condition, the vehicles had to cover a higher stopping distance while overtaking. This results in fatal accidents in the form of head on collision between two vehicles. Bangladesh generates huge amounts of non-biodegradable waste tire annually which can be used with conventional bitumen to make flexible pavement more skid proof. After conducting physical property test on both conventional and modified bitumen, we find that crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) is less ductile, has low stripping value. Further skid resistance test is conveyed on both road models by PORTABLE SKID RESISTANCE TESTER and evaluate the result as a BPN value which is directly related to frictional resistance. The reduction in stopping distance in the case of CRMB after applying brake also justifies the above statement. So modification of conventional bitumen can be a solution to improve the skid resistance of road surface.