Assessment Of Factors And Maintenance Strategies Related To Recurring Potholes In Bloemfontein Roads

Abstract

Roads play a major role in the everyday lives of people by connecting them to their respective destinations, carrying goods being transported to different locations, and creating spatial integration. The physical and structural conditions of the road infrastructure are crucial in ensuring an efficient flow of traffic, creating spatial integration and enhancing vital socio-economic activities. However, poor road pavement conditions, particularly potholes are a major barrier against efficient traffic movement, which also impact socio-economic activities. It was observed that the occurrence of potholes is a serious challenge on the roads of South African cities. Therefore, using the roads of Bloemfontein city, in this study, the causes of the formation of potholes, the repair strategies and engineering methods adopted to repair potholes and maintain the roads were investigated. In other words, the study determined the reasons for the occurrence of potholes on the road surfaces and explored sustainable, engineering solutions to repair the potholes that recur on the roads of a South African city. A positivist ontological approach was followed to develop an empirical study of selected roads within the Mangaung Municipality, and within Bloemfontein City in particular. Based on this approach, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Several important roads were selected randomly from the Bloemfontein City road network as a case study. Data was collected through ,field observations and a questionnaire survey, direct interface interviews with various stakeholders, including the Government Municipality (Mangaung) and Department of Police, Roads and Transportation. Data from secondary sources were also collected from authentic sources. Various causes of potholes in the city were found to be, amongst others, the drainage system, heavy traffic loads, poor road designs, poor construction and lack of, or poor, maintenance of the existing roads. The findings of the study, according to surveys, revealed that 25% of potholes and road deterioration was associated with traffic volume and heavy loads, while 15% of the deterioration was associated with poor drainage. A linear regression model revealed a strong correlation between the formation of potholes, traffic volume, road layer thickness, and wheel load. Critical findings were made in terms of the correlation coefficient between the variables of traffic volume, traffic loads and road capacity and the formation of potholes. It was found that roads which had exceeded their design life-span had the most problems in terms of deterioration and prevalent recurrence of potholes, even after maintenance. This indicated that government should invest more funds in the rehabilitation of road structures, particularly those which have exceeded their design life-span. This study can contribute to developing ways to analyse pothole-related problems on roads and to find solutions in other cities of South Africa.