The Major District Road, MDR 31, passes through Shaha and Kolpewadi villages in Sinnar Taluka, District Nashik. The road comes under the purview of the Nashik PWD and is a vital link connecting the sugarcane producing farms of Sinnar Taluka with sugar mills with heavy traffic during peak seasons.
The subgrade soil in these areas is expansive, which is colloquially called Black Cotton soil. During the dry months, the soil is very hard and shrinks, but it expands and turns very soft during the monsoons.
To cater to the expansive nature of the subgrade, StrataWeb® was considered above the subgrade. This proved to be an optimal solution, which also reduced the need for regular maintenance.
The existing road was scrapped off, and the subgrade was dressed and levelled as required and watered and compacted. A layer of sand was placed over the dressed subgrade. StrataWeb® SW 356-150 panels were placed in position above the sand with the help of metal spikes and infilled with granular sub-base (GSB) material. After the infilling and overtopping by 25mm with GSB, the surface was levelled and compacted with vibro-compactors. Traffic movement was allowed immediately thereafter.
The problems of expansive soil were overcome by using StrataWeb®. StrataWeb® resists uplifts due to expansive soils and bridges over shrinkage voids between the pavement section and the subgrade.
