PUBLIC Works Ministry Project Manager of the Works Services Group, Sunil Ganesh says that the cooperation of all road users in complying with vehicle axle load limits is vital if the condition of local roads is to be kept consistently good.

He stressed that deliberate and gross overloading of heavy vehicles, including lorries, is causing severe damage to most if not all local thoroughfares.

Making an appeal, he said that only when such cooperation is obtained will road authorities be able to maximise the value of the roadways.

He made the observations during a presentation to the 5th Annual Engineering Conference of the Ministry of Public Works entitled: “Getting value for money in the construction sector”.
ECONOMIC EFFECTS
Ganesh said that there seemed to be a lack of appreciation about the serious economic effects of overloading of heavy vehicles on roadways as national assets.

Ganesh said that deliberate overloading of lorries not only causes increased maintenance costs for these roads but also contributes to the serious problem of maintaining road safety given the growing number of vehicles.

He disclosed that research had shown that damage to the road by axle loads exceeding the legal limit, increased out of all proportion to the loads: for example, an axle carrying double the legal load may cause as much as sixteen times damage as one legal axle load.

In other words, the passage over the road structure of one such overloaded axle is equivalent to the passage of approximately 16 legally loaded axles.

Conversely, legally loaded heavy vehicles cause relatively little or no damage to road and pavement structures.

Ganesh said that generally, farm to market roads in Guyana have been particularly hard hit by this phenomenon, mainly by business people who want to maximize on their profits by overloading vehicles used to transport goods.

He said that deliberate overloading was the main reason why the Black Bush Polder road, in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) for example, failed.

Most of the trucks using this road were carrying loads that are heavier than the standard weight limit. In most cases single axle trucks were carrying the weight of double axle trucks.

He said: “With respect to the BBP Road we did everything right. A costs assessment of all the alternative designs was conducted; there was adequate quality processes for implementing during the construction period; there was a project audit and review and a routine maintenance programme was implemented from day one but because of the heavy loads the roadway failed.”

The Mahaicony Branch Road, the De Hoop Branch Road and the Burma Branch Road in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and the Cane Grove Road in Region 4 suffered similar fates requiring expensive maintenance, for the same reason.
UPDATING LEGISLATION
As a consequence the Government will shortly be updating weight control legislation aimed at safeguarding roadways and limiting their deterioration which is speeded up by overloaded heavy vehicles.

Part of the response is that the Ministry of Public Works has undertaken a design consultancy for the Grove/Timehri roadway and as part of this study it is analysing the nature and scope of vehicle overloading along this roadway.

Ganesh said that even though the study is not yet complete it has already been determined that most of the trucks traversing this road are overloaded, in some cases carrying loads weighing as much as three times the allowable weight.

He said that the goal of the Grove/Timehri road study is to review and update weight control legislation to allow the design and operation of a weight control facility which will effectively and efficiently monitor and manage weight control along this and other corridors.

The legislation will provide for the establishment of offloading facilities for storage of goods which are taken off vehicles found fetching more weight than they are allowed.

Ganesh said that because of the limited funds available for the construction of new roads and also for road maintenance, it is essential that effective enforcement of the axle load regulations be carried out throughout the country in order to protect these valuable assets; in order to get value for money from them.

He added that with respect to the updated legislation which is imminent, persons found guilty will also face severe penalties.

The 5th annual engineering conference of the MoPW was recently held under the theme: “Defending Guyana’s Development with Engineering Solutions”.

A contributor opined that restricting the importation of certain kinds of lorries may be an alternative solution.

By Clifford Stanley
PULL QUOTE: ‘Deliberate overloading was the main reason why the Black Bush Polder road, in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), for example, failed.
‘The Mahaicony Branch Road, the De Hoop Branch Road and the Burma Branch Road in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and the Cane Grove Road in Region 4 suffered similar fates requiring expensive maintenance, for the same reason’ — Sunil Ganesh