IRC :52-1981 AND 70-1977 RECOMMENDING SHOULDER WIDTH OF ROAD WAY FOR DIFFERENT CLASS OF ROADS

Hill roads require shoulder width for the safety of berms in case of National and state Highway (single lane) 1.25 metre each and in case of two lane 0.9 metre each the said shoulder width has been specified 0.5 metre each for Major District road and the said width will remain same for the safety of berms in other district roads and the village roads as per IRC :52 -1981and 70 -1977. It is particularly mentioned here that a number of hill roads have no protection by way of shoulders and during the rainy season all the berms are washed away because of the non existence of their shoulder width maintained for the safety of hill roads. In addition to the shoulder width it is necessary to have traffic safety by way of the road side drainage where in channel shoulder be wide and shallow and for an open ditch channel, a drain which is as wide as it is deep will be perhaps the cheapest. It is also necessary to check the sustainable flow level in ditch channel. In rock cuts the black slopes will necessarily be very steep where the drainage channel may have a narrow V -shape cross section. During the rainy season if there is no provision of the shoulder width for the berms the existing berms washed away because of the heavy rainfall so hill roads must have the provision of the shoulders so that it may help the passing out vehicles safely at narrow escape of the motorable road width :- Er Fateh Chand Guleria, RTI welfare Association registered number HPCD, 3552 Bilaspur Himachal Pradesh phone number 9459334377