Green Road Approach for the Sustainable Development in India

Abstract

Road transport is considered to be one of the cost effective and preferred modes oftransport for both freight and passengers. India has an extensive road network of 4.24million km– the second largest in the world (MoRTH, 2005). The National Highways havea total length of 70,934 km and serve as the arterial road network of the country. It isestimated that more than 70 per cent of freight and 85 per cent of passenger traffic in thecountry is being handled by roads. While Highways/ Expressways constitute only about 2% of the length of all roads, rest are state highway, major district road , district roads andrural and other road which is consider as low volume road.Growing public awareness of climate change requires transportation professionals tointegrate green concepts into the transportation planning, design, construction, andoperation processes.Green highways are a relatively new concept although the implementation of technologiesinvolved in green highway design has been encouraged for many years. A green road maynot look like normal road at first glance, but with closer inspection a driver will noticesubtle difference. More plant life grows along the shoulder, and more trees are planted aswildlife buffers and ridding quality. In towns, highways become more aestheticallypleasing, and in rural areas highways become a more natural part of the environment agreen highway can be defined by five broad topics such as Conservation and EcosystemManagement, Water Shed Driven Strong Water Management, Life Cycle Energy andEmissions Reduction, Recycles Reuse And Renewable, Overall Societal Benefits.This paper describes the factor affecting of green road and construction process ofwearing course of pavement through Microsurfacing which reduce the both direct andindirect cost. Microsurfacing is environmental friendly which reduce the greenhouse gasand fuel consummation.