Work Effects of Alternative Maintenance Measures on Unsurfaced Roads in the Western Cape

The unsurfaced road network in South Africa comprises approximately 600 000 km and is maintained by various road authorities and local councils to different standards. Although road management systems have been implemented by several organisations, this does not necessarily guide practitioners to apply best maintenance practice. Existing performance models for unsurfaced roads mainly consider gravel loss and the replacement thereof as well as roughness deterioration and improvement through only one form of blading and periodic regravelling. Revisiting existing good maintenance practices in southern Africa and results of gravel road performance studies in the Western Cape resulted in the need to incorporate the work effects of alternative maintenance measures into the total road network optimisation process. The paper describes current best practices and terminology accepted in the Western Cape and makes specific recommendations regarding the purpose as well as the immediate and longer term effects of light blading, reshaping and reworking for network optimisation purposes. The purpose of this paper is to add value to existing research work and to provide information for improvement of local performance models.