Device to analyse roads before re-laying them

The rough-o-meter will find surface undulations and aberrations. At first, State highways and major district roads will be studied

The highways department will re-lay roads after checking them with a device — ‘rough-o-meter’ — that will analyse surface cracks and rough patches.

The meter, fixed in accident data collection equipment that is installed on two vehicles imported from New Zealand, will find surface undulations and aberrations.

“Initially, we will concentrate on State highways and major district roads (MDR). Other district roads will however be re-laid using the old system of identifying bad stretches visually,” said an official.

The State has a total length of 1,08,66.87 km of State Highways, of which Chennai has 145.12 km, Tiruvallur 443.26 km and Chengalpattu circle 509.29 km.

It has 11,239.79 km of MDR, of which Chennai has 41.74 km, Tiruvallur 291.97 km and Chengalpattu circle 376.98 km.

Data for about 24,000 km of roads has been obtained in the first cycle and the vehicles are doing the second survey, presently. “Based on the condition of the roads, bad stretches have been identified and work will be taken up in the proposals for the financial year 2014-15, after due sanction from the government, said the official.

The condition of roads will be evaluated once in five years. The equipment will make the road re-laying process more scientific, said the official.