A 500-metre stretch on Old Madras Road has been taken up for white-topping by utilizing what the BBMP calls a ‘Rapid Road’ know-how.

Under the pilot challenge, the civic physique plans to manufacture the concrete slabs (20 toes in size and 5 toes in width) within the manufacturing facility and embed them on the highway.

In the current system, the BBMP takes round 26 to twenty-eight days to white-top a highway. This consists of milling, levelling, offering bituminous concrete and the obligatory 21 days of curing interval. Under the brand new know-how, the concrete slabs are dropped at the positioning and positioned on the highway utilizing cranes.

“The method helps in white-topping half a kilometre of road in a day. We need one or two days for milling and levelling, before placing the concrete slabs. The entire project can be completed in five days. We plan to extend the project to other roads based on the feedback received from motorists,” Prahlad B S, engineer-in-chief of BBMP, advised DH.

The value is identical for normal white-topping and the ‘Rapid Road’ challenge. “The new project, however, requires an additional cost of transporting the concrete slabs to the site. Under the pilot project, the innovation partner UltraTech Cement has offered to bear the additional cost,” the engineer-in-chief mentioned.

At current, the BBMP spends Rs 11 crore to white-top a four-lane highway and round Rs 15 crore to white-top a six-lane highway. While the challenge might scale back development time, considerations have been raised about undulation since a number of concrete slabs are utilized in laying the highway.