Plastic road: New material will extend runway life by 40 years

Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune: “If researchers find that this new technology is suitable for Bangladesh then we will experimentally apply it to one or half a kilometre on the Dhaka-Mawa highway. If that holds up to then we will apply it to other roads. “However polymer-modified asphalts has not been used in Bangladesh because of the weather in the country, none of the research so far has shown the material is suitable for Bangladesh.” On condition of it’s success, Chittagong Shah Amanat Airport and Sylhet’s Osmani Airport and Cox’s Bazar’s Airport will get polymer-modified asphalt runways, said Professor Shamsul Hoque from Civil Engineering Department of Buet.“The authorities of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong has already floated a tender to build a runway with this technology,” said Shamsul also a consultant of the Chittagong airport repair project.

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“Repairing runways in a lengthy and complex process with flights having to be rescheduled and re-routed in some cases, with a polymer-modified asphalt runways the longevity of the runway is about 30/40 years extending the time between repairs to a great extent,” he added. Along with many European countries, India already has implemented this technology to their roads while Bhutan has started the process of implementation.