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INTERNATIONAL ROAD FEDERATIONFEDERATION ROUTIERE INTERNATIONALE

IRF BULLETINSPECIAL EDITION

RURALTRANSPORT

VOLUME - 1

Credits and Acknowledgements

Contributing Editor: Barry Gilbert-Miguet, Communications, IRF Geneva

Editing and Supervision: Sibylle Rupprecht, Director General, IRF GenevaMaria Novikov, Special Programmes Manager, IRF GenevaBarry Gilbert-Miguet, Communications, IRF Geneva

IRF would like to thank the following persons for supplying articles, charts, comments and photographs for this publication: Adam Andreski (I.T. Trans-port, UK), Alemgena A.Araya (Delft University of Technology, The Nether-lands), Betty Babirye-Ddungu (UNOPS, Sudan), Dr Gerhard Metschies (Senior Transport Advisor, Metschies Consult, Germany), Gary J. Forster (Transaid, UK), Gianluca Dell’Acqua, Renato Lamberti & Francesca Russo (University of Naples Federico II, Italy), Gordon R. Keller (Geotechnical Engineer, USA), Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard (MPF Consult: Safe, Clean, Affordable Transport for Development, USA), N. Vijayakumar (Co-ordinator, NATPAC, India), Paul

Starkey (Transport Consultant, UK), Rob McInerney & Luke Rogers (iRAP, UK), Robert Petts (gTKP), Susanna Zammataro (IRF Geneva).

Cover Photo: “On the way to the market“, Gerhard Metschies, Arusha-Moshi Road, Tanza-nia, November 2009

Publisher:

IRF Geneva2 chemin de BlandonnetCH-1214, Vernier/ Geneva, SwitzerlandTel : + 41 22 306 02 60 Fax : + 41 22 306 02 [email protected]

IRF WashingtonMadison Place500 Montgomery Street, 5th Floor, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USATel: + 1 703 535 1001 Fax: +1 703 535 [email protected]

IRF BrusselsPlace Stéphanie 6/B B 1050 Brussels, BelgiumTel: +32 2 644 58 77, Fax: +32 2 647 59 [email protected]

www.irfnet.org

Copyright - Reproduction strictly prohibited. Extracts may be quoted provided the source “IRF Rural Transport Bulletin Volume-1” is mentioned.

Disclaimer - The contents and opinions presented in this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of IRF.

© IRF Geneva, December 2010 - All rights reserved.

INTERNATIONAL ROAD FEDERATION

IRF BULLETINFEDERATION ROUTIERE INTERNATIONALE

SPECIAL EDITION

INTERNATIONAL ROAD FEDERATIONFEDERATION ROUTIERE INTERNATIONALE

RURALTRANSPORT

Senior Road Executives Course04 - 16 April 2011• Road Sector Reforms (4th to 6th April 2011)• Road Financing (7th to 9th April 2011)• Road Safety (11th to 13th April 2011)• Road Maintenance Management (14th to 16th April 2011)

BackgroundThe road sector is going though an unprecedented period of restructur-ing. Countries are improving management of their road networks, intro-ducing private sector finance, setting up new style road funds and changing the way they set spending priorities and manage their roads. Furthermore, road safety has become a major issue, with it being a recognized by the world community as an unprecedented endemic.

Who should attendRoad executives, members of roads boards, government officials dealing with the road sector, staff from international donor organizations, and consultants working on the road sector, staff from private sector such as construction companies.

2-week course (4 modules of 3 days)The two-week course consists of 4 modules of 3 days, involving presen-tations, discussions, group exercises and site visits. The courses facilitate an international exchange of ideas and common experiences, and provide a forum for the dissemination of emerging good practice.

Course recognised by:• The World Bank• UK Department for International Development• International Road Federation

More information can be obtained from the Inter-national Road Federation on www.irfnet.org or e-mail [email protected] or on University of Birmingham’s website at www.srecourse.org.

VOLUME - 1

IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1 |

These are exciting times as more

decision makers are becoming aware of

the vital need for the provision of Rural

Transport services and infrastructure to

lift rural communities out of poverty.

The enormous rural road programmes

in China and India demonstrate belief

and real government commitment to

achieving development through opening up access to rural

areas. Improved access to trade, services and the essentials of

life, throughout the year and at affordable transport costs, as

well as the possibility to sell crops and products and get them

transported in a timely way improve rural livelihoods.

The global Transport Knowledge Partnership (gTKP), under

the management of IRF, is enabling free-of-charge access

to Rural Transport experience and good practice through

its website (www.gtkp.com). Furthermore, both gTKP

and IRF are organising dissemination events (the First and

Second Rural Road Conventions, in Tanzania and China

respectively) and developing key tools and documents for

improved infrastructure and services delivery in the sector.

These initiatives include the Small Structures for Rural Roads

Guideline which is downloadable from the website and will

shortly be available in hard copy. We are currently working

on a Low-Cost Surfacing guideline for rural and urban minor

roads that will include guidance on over 25 surfacing types,

many of which are suitable for small contractor or community

implementation using labour based techniques. There are over

400 key documents of Rural Transport relevance available for

download on the gTKP website.

Regarding environmental issues, the IRF CHANGER

(Greenhouse Gas Calculator, available via www.irfnet.org) and

a discussion paper on carbon footprinting of surface options

break new ground.

In this Bulletin, we bring you other contributions from leading

practitioners and development specialists in the sector. We

invite you to share your experiences and knowledge for the

advancement of the sector and achievement of affordable,

sustainable and effective access for rural communities around

the world.

Robert Petts

Theme Champion, Rural Transport, gTKP

03

EDITORIAL CONTENTS

2ND INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON RURAL ROADS

Striving for More Sustainable Rural Road Transport

SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITSThe Yambio-Maridi-Farasika Road Project

An Integrated Rural Accessibility Plan: A Case Study of Nilambur Block in the Malapurum District of Kerala, India.

Rural Roads: The Wealth of Nations

CONSTRUCTIONA Simple and Effective Characterisation Technique for Granular Materials in Rural Roads

MANAGEMENTContracted Labour-Based Market Access Improvement in Zambia using a Management Agent

Low-Volume Roads Engineering Best Practices: Application and Training

ROAD SAFETYRoad Safety Management Using Crash Prediction Models

Sharing Rural Roads: Low Tech, High Impact Transport Solutions for Public Health

A Global Crisis

SHARING THE ROADWorldwide Trends in Animal-Powered Transport

04

06

14

17

22

32

| IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1| IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-104



Striving for More Sustainable Rural Road Transport

Susanna ZammataroDeputy Director General,International Road Federation, Geneva

In 2000, the Prime Minister of India pledged that: “India

must shine for the poor. India must shine equally in the

cities and the villages. Villagers should be able to reach the

rest of the world, and the rest of the world must be able to

reach them with great ease”.

China, another country carrying out massive rural road

construction programmes, demonstrably echoes this

ambition, with the Chinese Rural Road Programme

adopting “Asphalt and Concrete Roads for our Peasants”

as is its priority and slogan.

The benefits of road investments are today well known

and have been widely proven. Roads have helped to

improve literacy, health and quality of life. The services

and opportunities they open have reduced child mortality;

enabled more young people, notably girls, to attend

schools; and promoted more productive cropping patterns,

resulting in significantly increased incomes for average

households. Such sweeping benefits are just a few of the

tangible benefits brought about by initiatives to improve

rural road connectivity among remote and disadvantaged

communities.

There are many shining examples of pioneering projects and

best practices in this field throughout the world. Some of

the best and most inspiring were prominently highlighted

during the recent 2nd International Convention on Rural

Roads, jointly organised by IRF and the China Highway and

Transportation Society (CHTS), together with the Shandong

Provincial Transportation Department.

Attended by around 400 delegates drawn from 30 countries

worldwide, the event marked a major step forward in

global efforts to mobilise resources and knowledge for

the development of sustainable rural road transport. Held

over two intensive days (from 27-29 October 2010), the

Convention focused on a comprehensive range of issues

relating to rural roads. While the benefits of improving

rural roads were apparent to all, the constraints – notably

in terms of the human resources and financial capacity

required to construct, maintain and manage them – were

acknowledged by the assembled experts as universally

problematic.

Key drivers for Sustainable Rural Roads

Five key factors promoting sustainability were identified:

Appropriate standards and specifications based upon 1.

local resources;

Matching rural road design to the road task;2.

Quality control and financial accountability during 3.

tendering and construction;

Clarification of organisational responsibilities and 4.

management accountability;

Financing maintenance works.5.

China has made remarkable progress in improving rural

transportation through a programme of massive road

construction and by making public transportation available

to more and more rural residents. As highlighted by Feng

Zhenglin, Vice-Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Transport,

IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1 |IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1 | 05


in his opening speech, 94% of villages in China’s eastern

and central regions are today accessible by road; and the

figure for villages in western regions is 98 percent. Buses

currently serve some 98 percent (35,000) of China’s towns

and nearly 88 percent (553,000) of its villages.

A lot of work lies ahead, however, if we are to emulate such

success by reaching out to communities in other regions

and countries across the world – quite literally putting in

place roads to improved living standards and quality of

life.

The construction of roads, particularly rural roads, has been

viewed as a means of generating employment through the

adoption of appropriate labour intensive methods. While

the benefits of community participation in construction

and maintenance activity cannot be denied, it is simply

not realistic to imagine that every task can be performed

manually to the desired quality specifications. It is important,

therefore, to deploy labour-based techniques selectively

and sensitively. The adoption of uniform standards and

specifications for rural roads is a key means of ensuring

construction methods that are commensurate with

optimum quality. The latest innovations in construction

techniques, for example through use of admixtures

and additives with locally available materials, could also

significantly contribute to enlarging the global network of

rural roads to bring access, mobility and new opportunities

to the most remote communities.

Safety is another crucial element that should never be

neglected. Often, many informal means of transport in

rural areas of the developing world are simply not safe; and

this situation needs to be carefully reviewed with a view to

defining appropriate steps and strategies to minimise overall

risk. Safety engineering measures should be incorporated

into every design, and all designs must be safety audited. The

critical and complex issues of compliance and enforcement

also need to be addressed differently when dealing with

rural areas. Here, the designs and relevant provisions

should be based on the safe systems principle; and be self-

enforcing to the greatest extent possible. In addition, the

communities themselves should be actively engaged and

involved; and encouraged to assume a ‘watchdog’ role in

terms of both maintaining the safe road traffic system and

minimising any adverse impacts.

Among the participants at the Convention there was

consensus regarding the need for practitioners and

decision-makers to continue to meet on a regular basis to

share rural access, mobility and transport knowledge and

experience

Building on the momentum generated by the event, the

opportunity of forming an Asian Community of Practice

for Rural Mobility, Access and Transport is currently

being mooted. Such an initiative would not only ensure

ongoing innovation and sharing of experience, but also

enable effective means of narrowing knowledge gaps and

responding to identified training needs throughout the

region.

The Chinese and Indian delegations both expressed interest

in exploring the possibility of co-hosting such events on

an annual basis, alternating the hosting responsibilities

between the two countries. By offering to act as secretariat

for this new initiative, IRF has further cemented its long-

term commitment to the cause of rural roads and global

development.

Moreover, to ensure that the invaluable knowledge and

experience exchanged during the event can be readily

disseminated throughout those regions of the world where

it is most needed, IRF Geneva will make the full proceedings

of the Conference available on its global Transport

Knowledge Partnership (gTKP) programme website (www.

gtkp.com).

Some key papers and presentations will also be included in

a second volume of this IRF Special Bulletin on Rural Roads,

scheduled for publication in Spring 2011.

| IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-106

SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS


The Yambio-Maridi-Farasika Road Project

Betty Babirye DdunguEnvironmentalist/Social Expert with UNOPS

Since 2007, UNOPS has taken over the role as UN sector

lead for basic infrastructure and settlement development

in Southern Sudan. Currently, the Sudan Operations

Centre (SDOC) is running 18 different projects supported

by various donors, including USAID, the Multi Donor Trust

Fund (MDTF), the World Bank, other UN Agencies and the

Government of South Sudan.

The Yambio-Maridi-Farasika Road Project

On 10th April 2007, UNOPS and MDTF, together with the

Ministry of Transport and Roads, Government of Southern

Sudan, entered into a Memorandum of Agreement for the

rehabilitation and construction of the 170 km Yambio-

Maridi-Farasika road corridor. The objective of the project

is to improve traffic flow between the State Capital and

the counties of Ibba and Maridi. The road is also part of the

National Road Network of Southern Sudan so the initiative

will further serve to facilitate the return of refugees and

internally displaced persons, enhance food security and

stimulate economic development within the region. At the

macro level, the road project is also expected to contribute

towards:

The creation of conditions that foster sustained peace •

and development;

The promotion of economic growth by increasing •

trade;

Enhancing national stability by facilitating the transport •

of humanitarian aid, as well as the resettlement of

refugees and displaced persons;

Increasing the capacity of the southern Sudanese public •

and private sectors in various facets of road maintenance

and management;

Improving road access, thereby reducing the cost of •

access to food and food production.

The construction of the Yambio-Maridi-Farasika road is

also taking place within the context of increased regional

road infrastructure investments linking the country to the

neighbouring states of Uganda and Kenya, as well as a

trunk road system that extends northwards on both the

western and eastern sides of the Nile to eventually link the

South with the North.

While it is too early to assess the overall impact of this

road project, it already constitutes one of the most visible

and tangible benefits flowing from the Comprehensive

Peace Agreement to the people of West Equatorial State.

With the improved road, food and other relief aid can be

moved by ground transport more efficiently, thanks to

lower transport costs, quicker delivery times and increased

trucking capacity. Moreover, the road is facilitating the

return of refugees and internally displaced persons and

attracting many prospective development partners.

Other positive impacts include the creation of job

opportunities to provide increased income for both women

and men, and improved mobility and access to social

services – especially health facilities and schools, which are

key to women and young children.

Attenuating Negative Impacts

On the other hand, care needs to be exercised to attenuate

any negative impacts of road construction that could

otherwise risk threatening the environment and biodiversity

of the State as well as people’s livelihoods. To this end, an

IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1 | 07


Environmental/Social Management Plan (ESMP) is being

implemented to address viable remedial measures and

enhance positive impacts.

One of the guiding principles of the ESMP has been the

establishment of an open and transparent relationship

between the project and communities in the vicinity

through a process of continuous consultation, conducted

in a culturally appropriate manner. The project regularly

provides the concerned communities with information

on operations that might affect them by organising

stakeholder workshops and village meetings, as well as

through pamphlets and community announcements.

Women’s groups and community leaders are specifically

targeted.

Safety awareness activities and training are undertaken in

those locations most affected by traffic, especially among

communities living near schools and markets in close

proximity to the road.

Tree Planting Activities

Pursuant to the ESMP, USD 77,000 have been earmarked

for tree planting and reforestation programmes. These

include a comprehensive roadside plantation strategy

directed at both private and forestry reserve areas where

trees and vegetation have been removed as a result of

the road widening exercise. Trees and shrubs will also be

planted between the road and public amenities such as

churches, schools and clinics so as to limit dust, enhance the

aesthetics, generate goodwill and promote environmental

awareness. Upwards of a hundred public places, including

schools, hospitals, clinics, churches and state offices, from

Yambio to Farasika, will be targeted. Again, the programme

has been designed to particularly benefit women’s groups

in the first instance, for example through the planting of

fruit trees.

HIV/AIDS awareness

The current prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Yambio is 10%

according to the latest surveillance figures (UNICEF, 2010).

This rate is likely to rise with the increasing numbers of

migrants (including the road project workers) who have

moved into the area without their families. Poverty coupled

with a lack of resources, prompts women to engage in

commercial sex with project workers

The ability of communities impacted by the project to

defend themselves against the resulting increased risks of

infection depends largely on the success of HIV/AIDS and

other sexually transmitted disease education and awareness

programmes. Besides mitigating the socio-economic impact

of HIV/AIDS, the project recognises it has a corporate social

responsibility to contribute towards community prevention

and care efforts.

The project is, therefore, collaborating with existing

programmes and working in close cooperation with the

government of Western Equatorial State and leading

specialised NGOs. It has notably committed to working

with the Zereda AIDS Information Centre, which works

with communities and people living with HIV/AIDS. The

Zereda centre promotes information/awareness on factual

health and behaviour change issues, including positive

living, the ABC of prevention, the prevention of mother to

child transmission, and antiretroviral drugs. These activities,

which naturally also include the distribution on condoms,

will take place in Bangasu, Makpandu, Rimenze, Bodo and

Bazungua.

Surveying in progress

Embankment rolling



An Integrated Rural Accessibility Plan: A Case Study of Nilambur Block in the Malapurum District of Kerala, India

N. VijayakumarCo-ordinator, National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Kozhikode 673002, India

Nilambur Block Panchayat1 is located on the north-east

part of Malapuram district of the State of Kerala, India. It

covers an area of 1,080.57 km2 and has a population of

3,23,066 (2001 census). The tribal population forms 4%

per cent of the total population of the Block.

While, overall the State of Kerala is relatively well placed

in terms of rural connectivity, compared to other States in

the country, the situation is quite different for most of the

settlements in hilly regions in the State. Due to physical

constraints and the peculiarities of habitat distribution,

people living in such remote locations often have to trek

long distances, through hostile terrain, to reach the nearest

roads usable by motorised vehicles or to access basic

amenities like schools, markets and hospitals.

As the people living in tribal communities are very poor,

with limited income from marginal work or from their own

marginal farms, there is generally little scope for travel

outside the settlement. Nor are such communities usually

covered by initiatives flowing from rural connectivity

schemes.

The National Transportation Planning & Research Centre

(NATPAC) has, therefore, attempted to highlight the travel

constraints of tribal people, as well as their specific social

and economic characteristics, with special emphasis on

their travel needs. The resulting study has come up with

viable solutions for the hilly region of Nilambur, aimed at

mitigating the problems of poverty and unemployment

by adopting low-cost and labour intensive Integrated

Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP) approaches to provide

mobility. The strategy identified for attacking the prevailing

structural (as opposed to transient or chronic) poverty

involves the provision of better infrastructure and services

specifically aimed at addressing rural accessibility/mobility

problems, and reducing isolation in accordance with IRAP

methodologies.

The conventional approach to rural road planning is to

provide connectivity to all weather roads. In the case of

Nilambur, however, this approach is less viable. The limited

number of beneficiaries, and the costs that would be

involved in maintaining the roads, act as stumbling blocks

to providing connectivity to such areas. Steps, therefore,

have to be envisaged to enhance mobility and improve

accessibility at a lower investment cost.

Scope and Objectives

The scope of the study was to to evaluate objectively the

mobility needs of tribal communities, who are socially and

economically disadvantaged and are residing in very remote,

hilly terrains. The study highlighted their accessibility status

and mobility needs.

The main objectives of the study were:

to study the household and demographic characteristics •

of tribal communities living in typical hilly areas;

to study the socio-economic characteristics that have a •

bearing on the transport needs of such tribal people;

to study the existing transport facilities, especially road •

transport; and

to suggest cost-effective solutions aimed at improving •

mobility.

Methodology

The data required for the study was collected from primary

and secondary sources. Most of the data was available

from various local bodies, including notably the Tribal

Development Department. Household surveys were carried

A typical bamboo ladder and hanging bridge across a torrent



out to collect information on socio–economic characteristics

and travel demand patterns. Tribal settlements with

restricted and/or seasonal accessibility were identified. To

evaluate the mobility, accessibility and travel requirements

of the tribal communities concerned, census type household

surveys were carried out in each settlement.

Study area

The study area consisted of 207 tribal settlements spread

over eleven panchayats in the Nilambur Block. Forty of the

207 tribal settlements in the Block do not have all-weather

road connectivity. The existing jeep road/cart tracks cannot

be used during monsoon seasons. These settlements can,

therefore, be classified as ‘inaccessible’, and the only real

mobility available to them is by foot along forest tracks.

Analysis of the data and findings

The study team visited all the Oors (settlements) identified

as having accessibility restrictions. Most of the roads

connecting Oors were muddy and rocky and found to be

difficult to negotiate – especially for transporting men and

materials - throughout the year. Nearly all the settlements

were either located on the fringes of forests or deeper

within, near elephant corridors.

Around 44% of the households had an average income

of rupees 2,000-2,999 per month, followed by 24% with

3,000–4,000 rupees per month. 19% had a monthly income

of more than 4,000 rupees and the remaining 13% lived

on less than 2,000 rupees per month. The overall picture is

far below the State’s average per capita income.

In terms of energy, 87% of the settlers were dependent

on the forests as their source of fuelwood, while 13%

relied on private estates near their colonies. The per-capita

fuelwood load used to be 23 kilos, the collection of which

involved an average walking distance of more than two

kilometres. For 60% of families, the rivers were the main

source of drinking water, with the remaining 30% drawing

their water from community wells.

Only 26% of the total families (645) were engaged in

fishing in the upstream areas of the Chaliyar river. 17%

were cultivating various crops, including plantains (small

bananas), tapioca, coconuts, areca nuts, cashews and

pepper, on a homesteading basis. Among children and

young people, nearly 50% were pursuing studies, with a

few attending high schools in nearby towns in the block.

58% of tribal families had to travel more than 2 to 12

km in order to reach the nearest shopping centres, often

using an Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) service made

up of auto rickshaws or jeeps running during the week.

For medical care, 67% of families preferred to visit primary

health centres while the remaining 33% elected to visit

Government hospitals by walking to the Block centre

directly, or to the nearest available bus route.

Accessibility particulars like distance to a road suitable for

motor vehicles; proximity of a bus route; types of available

roads, river crossings and bridges (intact or missing!) and

so on were also collected during the survey. 70% of the

hamlets were connected by foot tracks and 30% by forest

roads. The distance to a bus route for settlements varied

from 1 km to 12 km. The distance to the nearest road

suitable for motorised vehicles from settlements such as

Vettilakolly, Irutukuthy and Vaniyampuzha was more than

five kilometres.

Regarding travel characteristics, 15% of the total

population of the settlements surveyed, make regular trips

for the purposes of work and education. Out of a total

of 735 trips, most (29%) were for education, followed by

shopping (28%) and work (18%).

Malappuram District



Mode and frequency characteristics indicated that, for 54%

of settlers, walking was the main means of travel – with

47% making daily trips, and 40% travelling on a weekly

basis. The remaining 13% were reported to travel rarely.

Improvement measures

Stakeholder participation in decision-making is an

approved procedure under IRAP planning. Accordingly, a

fully participatory approach was assured during surveys

and habitat visits conducted for the study. A number of

improvement measures were duly mooted aimed at solving

accessibility/mobility problems in the region.

Conclusion

The study was carried out among tribal settlements located

in a remote hilly region, with restricted accessibility, in

accordance with the IRAP methodology, as developed by

agencies like the International Labour Office (ILO). The aim

of the study was to evaluate accessibility/mobility related

problems in order to arrive at cost–effective solutions

with the potential to enhance accessibility and thereby

improve the poor living standards and quality of life of the

communities involved; notably by means of improvement

measures which could, in turn, generate additional

employment opportunities. The purpose of the study was

to evaluate the prevailing accessibility standards vis-à-

vis the mobility needs of tribal communities in the study

region.

_____________________________

An administrative division, part of a three-tier self government 1.

system operating in Kerala State. This comprises Grama (or

village level) Panchayats, Block Panchayats (as mainly referred

to in this article) and District Panchayats.

Name of settlement

Kandilapara

Ambumala

Palakkayam

Vettilakolly

Nayadampoyil

Chenapady

Kuttimunda

Mundakadavu

Uchakulam

Thazhe Thudumutty

Improvement measures suggested

Road improvement•

Remove vegetation•

Steps along the hill•

Electric fencing•

Solar lights•

Road development•

Causeway•

Electric fencing•

Solar lights•

Road development•

Cut vegetation•

Edge barriers•

Electric fencing•

Road development•

Causeway•

Causeway •

Electric fencing•

Solar lights•

Cutting vegetation•

Road development•

Side protection•

Pipe culvert•

Road development•

Cut vegetation•

Solar lights•

Road development•

Surface dressing of foot •

path to colony

Electric fencing•

Solar lights•

Road development•

Hand packed steps to hill •

top

Solar lights•

TABLE 1Improvement measures proposed for Selected Settlements in the hilly-

forest region of Nilambur Block.



Rural Roads: The Wealth of Nations

Maryvonne Plessis-FraissardMFP Consult: Safe, Clean, Affordable Transport for Development

Rural roads have only relatively recently received attention

in development research. The International Bank for

Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank, moved

away from the World War II reconstruction mandate during

the early 1960s to start, and address, the “Third World”

development agenda. At that time, the development

process was not understood beyond the need to build

infrastructure. Development was pursued on a sector-

by-sector basis, giving priority to the larger “structural”

infrastructure. Rural roads were attended mostly as part of

agriculture sector investment.

Study of rural roads as a keystone to unbundling the understanding of poverty

During the 1990s, rural roads became the centre of intensive

and specific attention, in particular under the leadership

of the International Forum for Rural Transport (IFRT), and

through the studies of the Sub-Saharan Africa Transport

Partnership (SSATP). This work documented the economic

and social development impacts of rural roads as we know

them today. Its significance extended beyond the issues of

rural and agricultural development, and contributed to the

unbundling of the concept of poverty, and the corresponding

processes of social and economic integration. The need

to focus on the mobility of individuals, the importance

of transport services (and not just infrastructure) and the

prevalence of non-motorised and alternative modes of

transport were recognised. Importantly, the intra household

dynamic by which isolation – measured in terms of distance

to water, fuel and basic social services – perpetrates wide

gender gaps and constitutes a poverty trap was established.

Today, these concepts of access, services, participation

and gender equality are at the centre of the development

debate. Rural roads are no longer a feature of agricultural

policy; they have become a critical headline indicator of

development monitoring.

“To be poor is to be isolated”

When, in 2000, over 40,000 poor women and men in

50 countries spoke about their lives and the meaning of

Equator

Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Capricorn

Antarctic Circle

Arctic Circle

Pacific Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Indian Ocean

Pacific Ocean

-180

-180

-160

-160

-140

-140 -120

-120 -100

-100

-80

-80 -60

-60

-40

-40

-20

-20

0

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100

100

120

120

140

140

160

160

180

180

0 0

-20 -20

20 20

-40 -40

40 40

-60 -60

60 60

-80 -80

80 80

RAI (%)

0 - 32

33 - 49

50 - 70

71 - 86

87 - 100

Not available

Rural Access IndexSource: Rural Access Index global tables, 2007



poverty, they did not comment so much about lack of

money. Rather, they denounced lack of security, as well

as uncertainty and isolation. Physical, social and political

isolation are core features of the poverty trap.1 A new

focus was set in the fight against poverty, and the role of

rural roads received new significance.

Rural access: a core poverty indicator

The Rural Access Index (RAI) measures the percentage of the

rural population with “access” to the transport network.

Adopted in 2004 as a headline Indicator of Development,

it is included in household surveys in a growing number of

countries.

Today, one billion people, or thirty-one percent of the

world’s rural population, live isolated from markets and

services: they live more than 2 km from an “all season

road” – i.e. one that is ‘drivable’ at all times of the year

(within, at most, six hours after rain) by the prevailing

means of transport, which is usually a non four-wheel drive

pick-up truck. Global poverty has been falling rapidly, and

is becoming more and more an urban issue as the world

urbanises. Still, isolated rural populations often overlap

with the “Bottom Billion”; those whose perspectives are

not improving and who live in the small “failing states”

– falling further and further behind the rest of the world’s

people.2

Investing in rural roads: a cost effective way to address rural poverty

Overall, many examples are found of the positive economic

impacts of rural roads. For example, the number of

kilometres of rural road per capita of population is the

most significant explanation of growth and consumption in

Southern China.3 Despite variability in returns, investments

in rural roads are found to have greater economic impact

than any other investment – before education, agriculture

and health, in India, Thailand, China, Ethiopia and

Uganda.4

Improvement of rural roads also brings social development,

firstly in the form of improved food security. In Morocco,

the positive and multifaceted social multiplier effect of

enhanced access to basic services has been documented.

It shows how greater girls schooling has advanced gender

equity; how reliable access to the city has improved the

quality of education and health, with better enrolment and

retention of teachers and medical personnel. Enhanced

access has also impacted wellness, productivity and the

environment by making butane more widely available for

household use.5

Investing in rural roads improves governance, participation and citizenship

Better attention to rural roads and appropriate community

participation has been shown to enhance the quality of

citizenship in Peru. Rural roads facilitate access to district

centres, polling stations and the centres of delivery for

democratic services. By lowering the cost of participation,

they have promoted involvement in local decision-making,

thereby enabling greater scrutiny and awareness on the

part of communities and, in turn, contributing to improved

democratic services.6 In other countries, such as Chad,

addressing the isolation of villages has been associated

with identification of communities with civil authorities

and the rural roads have been called “roads of peace”.

The ‘step-child’ of infrastructure in developing countries

Rural roads often receive the least attention in the

network. This is because they are funded from a number

of sources – at national regional and local levels. Similarly,

they are managed with inputs from central, regional and

local governments, and are situated at the intersection of

transport, agriculture and local government mandates. Brazil, Julio Pantoja (World Bank Collection)



They are alternatively an economic or a social asset. They

constitute a vast infrastructure asset, yet they are neither

cheap nor cutting edge. They are an infrastructure, not a

service, and yet a major part of their cost is recurrent. These

complexities make it harder for rural roads interventions to

achieve expected standards of governance and technical

performance. S. Fan summarises the predicament of rural

roads: they are the “step-child of infrastructure provision in

developing countries”.7

How many rural roads? Uncertainty and difficult decisions

Rural roads continue to be at the centre of controversies

regarding appropriate technical standards and fair cost

sharing arrangements. Internal rate of return methodologies

often underestimate impacts and ignore distributional

and poverty reduction effects. Budgets do not account

well for long construction times and delayed evidence of

benefits. Rural roads also interact with other investments,

making effects hard to isolate. While travel time to cities

is associated with decreasing crop production,8 no model

can set optimum investment effort. There is also little hard

evidence on the contextual factors that make a programme

succeed: high adult illiteracy may reduce the impact of

improved rural roads, while difficult terrains often show

the opposite effect.9 Almost everywhere, lack of data is a

major handicap.

Simplified modelling methodologies requiring less

information have been designed for low traffic volumes;

cost reduction and practical approaches such as spot

improvements have been developed to address scarcity

of funds or low population and traffic densities – while

focussing on the access and mobility issues that make the

difference for the poor.10 These instruments remain under

utilised, often because they are perceived as politically

inappropriate.

New challenges

As nations achieve improved road safety, casualties remain

high on low-volume and isolated roads. This has resulted

in redistribution of road upgrading and safety funding in

favour of secondary and rural roads in a number of OECD

countries. The risks associated with climate change, with

new temperature and rain patterns and extreme weather

events, also call for updated construction and maintenance

standards.

Rural roads are the wealth of nations, a tool for social

inclusion, economic development and environmental

sustainability. If rural access is an indicator of poverty,

then rural roads management may be a measure of

governance.

_____________________________

Narayan, D. & al, The voice of the Poor: can anyone hear us?. 1.

World Bank. 2000.

Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are 2.

Failing and What Can be Done About It. 2007

Jalan J. and M. Ravaillon, Geographic Poverty traps? A Micro 3.

Model of Consumption Growth in Rural China. Journal of

Applied Econometric,. Vol 17 2007, pp329-246.

Mogues, T. Impact of Investment in Rural Roads in Africa: 4.

Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania. Transportation

Research Board, 2008

Leyvigne, J. Morrocco Rural Roads Impact Study. Unpublished 5.

Transport Research Board, The World Bank. 2007

Simatovic, M. I., M. Glave, and G. Pastor. Impact of Rural 6.

Roads Program on Democracy and Citizenship in Rural Areas of

Peru. The World Bank, 2008.

Fan, S. Why Rural Roads Are Important in Economic Growth and 7.

Poverty Reduction? Selected Evidence from Asia. International

Food Policy Institute, IFPRI, 2008

Dorosh, P., H. Gun Wang, and L. You, Crop Production and 8.

Road Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Analysis.

The World Bank, 2008.

Mu, R. and Van de Wale, M. Rural Roads and Poor Development 9.

in Vietnam. The World Bank 2008,

Lebo J. and D. Schelling. Design and Appraisal of rural 10.

infrastructure : Ensuring Basic Access for Rural Communities.

World Bank, Technical Paper 496, 2001

South West China (Steve Harris, World Bank Collection)

IRF BULLETIN SPECIAL EDITION: RURAL TRANSPORT, VOLUME-1 |


CONSTRUCTION

A Simple and Effective Characterisation Technique for Granular Materials in Rural Roads

Alemgena A. ArayaDelft University of Technology, Road and Railway Engineering Section

Most rural roads are unpaved, or paved with a thin, low-

cost asphalt surface. The base and sub-base layers are the

main load bearing structures. Those layers are mostly built

from locally-available natural or crushed stone aggregate

materials. These granular materials are often obtained

from nearby quarries along the road. Quarry sources on

geologically vulnerable slopes can trigger erosion, mass

wasting and sedimentation. This often leads to excessive

land degradation in adjacent areas. Such impacts have a

direct bearing on the livelihoods of people who depend on

subsistence agriculture farming in developing countries.

Historically, flexible pavement design practices have been

typically based on empirical procedures, such as the

California Bearing Ratio (CBR), which recommend certain

base, sub-base and surface layer types and thicknesses,

based on the strength of the sub-grade. Such designs tend

to result in conservatively large pavement layer thicknesses,

requiring far more quarry materials than might otherwise

be necessary. Another major drawback of empirically-based

design of pavements and characterisation of materials is

that the performance of the materials under different or

changing conditions (climate, increasing traffic loads, tyre

pressures, etc.) and applications (other types of pavement

structures) is uncertain.

A proper utilisation and characterisation of materials is,

therefore, essential for the development of truly sustainable

and cost-effective road pavements. This can be achieved

through characterisation of basic material properties, which

can be used in mechanistic analyses for predicting different

distresses such as rutting and roughness. Furthermore, the

advantage of using such mechanical properties of materials

is that it enables the introduction of alternative and/or

marginal, but possibly appropriate, materials. Moreover, it

enables such materials to be used to their fullest extent,

which in itself can play a significant role in optimising the

use and conservation of natural resources.

However, the method of characterising the mechanical

behaviour of unbound granular materials, such as the

resilient modulus, commonly entails using cyclic load triaxial

tests, which are considered to be too sophisticated and

costly to implement in routine road construction projects,

particularly in the context of low-volume rural roads.

Indeed, such tests are implemented mainly for research

purposes, and hardly ever used in day-to-day engineering

practice. This gap between research and industry-

based practice highlights the absence of appropriate

characterisation techniques. Characterisation techniques

developed for research purposes have economical and

practical limitations that prevent their widespread use.

Edward (2007) reports that these barriers include level

of complexity, availability and affordability, as well as the

prerequisite skills or training required for their use. On the

other hand, being too empirical, index testing procedures,

such as the CBR have inherent technical limitations with

respect to their use in mechanistic design methods.

By way of response, the repeated load CBR (RL-CBR) test

is proposed as a simpler and more practical method for

characterisation of unbound materials. The following

sections describe the principle behind the test and the

materials and methodologies used. The article goes on

to demonstrate how the test technique is effective in

determining the effects of moisture content, degree of

compaction and load level on the resilient and permanent

deformation characteristics of unbound granular

materials.

The repeated load CBR

The principle of the RL-CBR test is similar to that of the

standard CBR test, but repeated loads are applied. Upon

multiple repetitions of the same magnitude of loading,

granular materials reach a state in which almost all strain

under a load application is recoverable. The permanent

(plastic) strain ceases to exist or becomes negligible, and

the material behaves in a basically elastic manner, i.e. with

CONSTRUCTION


CONSTRUCTION

stable, recoverable deformation. From the applied stress and

the measured strain, an elastic modulus can be estimated.

By recording the load and displacement and plotting these

in x-y axes, as in Figure 1, the load levels and total resilient

(elastic) and permanent (plastic) deformations under the

penetration plunger used in the test can be determined.

The aim of the repeated load CBR test setup is to estimate

the resilient modulus from a standard CBR testing facility

by repeating the loading and unloading cycle. The tests in

the research featured in this article were performed using

a large mould, with a diameter of 250 mm and a height of

200 mm, to accommodate the full 0/45 mm gradation.

Proportionally, a larger penetration plunger, with a diameter

of 81.5 mm, was used instead of the standard CBR plunger,

which has a diameter of only 49.6 mm. The specimen is

first loaded at the rate of 1.27 mm/min to a predetermined

deformation (e.g. 2.54 mm) or a target load level. The load

is recorded and unloaded at the same rate (1.27 mm/min)

to a minimum contact load of 0.5 to 1 KN (0.1 to 0.2 MPa)

to keep the plunger in contact with the specimen. The

loading and unloading cycles are generally repeated for

about 50 – 100 load cycles, at which phase the permanent

deformation due to the last five loading cycles will be less

than 2% of the total permanent deformation up to that

point.

The materials used in the study ranged from a very good

quality Grade 1 (G1) crushed Hornfels rock base course

material from South Africa, to a recycled mix granulate from

the Netherlands. This article will, however, focus essentially

on three of the materials, namely crushed rock (G1) base

material from South Africa, weather basalt (WB) natural

gravel sub-base material from Ethiopia and ferricrete (FC)

natural gravel sub-base material from South Africa.

The equivalent modulus Eequ was computed from the

stabilised elastic deformation after 100 cycles. The term

equivalent modulus is used because it reflects the overall

stiffness of the sample as a bulk, rather than the resilient

modulus of the material. A Finite Element Analysis was

carried out on a model of the CBR mould using the

ABAQUS software and assuming linear elastic behaviour

of the granular material. A wide range of material stiffness

100 – 1000 MPa and Poisson’s ratio 0.15 - 0.45 was used

for the granular material with different deformation and

force levels. From these analyses, equation 1 has been

developed. This relates the elastic modulus of the material

tested (referred to as equivalent modulus of the whole

sample) to the load and elastic deformation that were

measured from the RL-CBR tests.

Where:

Eequ = Equivalent modulus [MPa]

n = Poisson’s ratio [-]

sp = Plunger average stress [MPa]

u = elastic deformation [mm]

R = radius of the load circle/the plunger = 40.75 [mm]

Results and discussion

Most of the RL-CBR specimens were tested first at a load level

(P) that resulted in a 2.54 mm (0.1 in) penetration from the

first loading cycle (similar to the standard CBR). The loading

cycles were then repeated with the same load. However,

as granular materials are known for their stress dependent

behaviour, the tests under various material conditions were

carried out with different load levels on a virgin specimen.

Thus, figure 2 shows the resilient deformation of six

Ethiopian weathered basalt (WB) specimens under varying

material conditions and tested at two load levels: 32 kN for

varying the degree of compaction (DOC), and 15 kN for

varying the moisture content (MC).

Deformation

Load

Standard CBR Repeated Load CBR

No. load

repetition

Def

orm

atio

n .

Cummulative permanent deformationResilient deformationPermanent deformation/cycle

Figure 1. Repeated load CBR test principle and load-deformation pattern


G1 - Moderate (4%) MC

100

1000

10000

00000100001Plunger stress (kPa)

E equ

(MPa

)

98%

100%

102%

G1 - 100% DOC

100

1000

10000

1000 10000 100000Plunger stress (kPa)

E equ

(MPa

)

Wet(6%)

Mod.(4%)

Dry(2%)

16

CONSTRUCTION

The resilient deformation decreases for the WB with

moderate MC and an increase in the DOC is observed at

the same load level, 32 kN. At 95% DOC, expressed in

maximum modified Proctor dry density (MPDD), and 15 kN

load, the resilient deformation increases with the increase

of MC.

To establish stress dependent behaviour from the RL-CBR,

a large number of tests were carried out at various plunger

load levels. The equivalent modulus was estimated using

equation 1, developed by the author from finite element

modelling of the RL-CBR. Figure 3 shows stress dependent

equivalent modulus of the G1 material for various DOC

and MC. It should be noted that the RL-CBR equivalent

modulus is stress dependent, and generally the stiffness

of the material increases with an increase in DOC and

decrease in MC. The equivalent modulus of the ferricrete

is relatively higher at moderate MC (rather than wet or

dry), and it shows better performance at 98% DOC than at

95% or 100%. With respect to compaction, 100% DOC of

the FC shows poor performance in the RL-CBR as a result

of crushing of aggregates during compaction and resultant

weakening of the material.

In the results presented here for each individual loading,

the value of the resilient strain and stress are the average of

the last ten load cycles. The values of resilient modulus (Mr)

are not generally very sensitive to MC and DOC (except for

the ferricrete, where they were sensitive to both). When

we compare the Mr values for each material, the range is

100 – 500 MPa for the WB and FC and 100 – 650 MPa for

the G1.

ConclusionsThe repeated load CBR test is relatively simple and •

affordable for pavements on rural roads in general,

and for developing countries in particular. It yields a

good estimate of the material stiffness

The repeated load CBR test is a useful method for •

evaluating the effects of moisture content, degree

of compaction, load level etc. on the stiffness and

resistance to rutting of granular materials

Provision of proper water drainage significantly •

improves the lifetime of rural roads with unbound

granular layers. If such pavements are likely to be

exposed to uncontrolled moisture during their lifetime,

their mechanical behaviour should be tested at the

worst possible in-situ moisture content.

0.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.91.0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120Number

of

Load

Repetitions

Resi

lient

Def

orm

atio

n (m

m)

95% 98% 100%

0.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.91.0

0 25 50 75 100 125 150Number

of

Load

Repetitions

Resi

lient

Def

orm

atio

n (m

m)

Dry(5%) Mod.(7%) Wet(9%)

Figure 2. Effect of DOC at moderate MC and effect of MC at 95% DOC for WB

Figure 3. Stress dependent equivalent modulus for G1 material


MANAGEMENT

Contracted Labour-Based Market Access Improvement in Zambia using a Management Agent

Adam AndreskiDirector, I.T. Transport, UK

A highly innovative programme for delivering improved

market access roads in Zambia was carried out between

2002 and 2007. The programme was called SHEMP

(Smallholder Enterprise Development and Marketing

Programme – access road component) and its key features

were:

Improved food security and reduced poverty, achieved •

through private sector means;

Farmers groups selected routes based on technical •

advice provided;

A novel management structure whereby a Managing •

Agent (a hybrid consultant/management contractor)

supervised and executed the work, with supervisory

assistance from District Councils;

47 labour-based contractors built 700km of gravel •

access roads very cheaply, for around $7,000/km.

The project was financed by the International Fund for

Agricultural Development (IFAD) through the Ministry of

Agriculture & Cooperatives of the Government of Zambia

(GRZ). SHEMP covered 18 districts in four provinces as

shown in the map on page 19.

Programme Design

Selection of RoadsThe Programme’s immediate objectives were to improve

linkage to markets for smallholders’ products, as well as

input supplies and alleviate poverty. The selection of roads

took into account the following factors:

Preferences of focal area road user groups. This involved •

a consultative process with local farmers;

Vehicle (including non-motorised vehicles) operating •

cost savings. This took into account consumption of

spares, tyres and fuel;

User travel time savings;•

Producer surplus transport savings.•

Selection of ContractorsA press advertisement was placed in the Times of Zambia

during February 2003, requesting expressions of interest

from small-scale, labour-based contractors wishing to take

part in the road works. There was a tremendous response

from the small contractors, who underwent a preliminary

selection by reference to specific focal areas. The best

candidates were shortlisted according to the following

criteria:

Company Registration•

VAT Registration•

Ministry of Works & Supply registration•

Rural Transport Services training•

Firm’s experience in labour-based road works•

Ownership of equipment, or ability to hire•

Residence•

Shortlisted contractors were then invited to bid, and

evaluated on a financial basis.

ManagementActivities are undertaken by private teams acting in the

capacities of Project Coordination Office, Oversight Civil

Engineer and Implementing Engineering Firm (Managing

Agent), with contractors and local labour all engaged on

a contract basis. The Project Coordination Office (PCO)

was hired by MASDA, a management consultancy firm,

while the Ministry of Agriculture hired BICON Zambia as

Oversight Civil Engineer (OCE) and IT Transport/Zulu Burrow

Joint Venture as Implementing Engineering Firm (IEF). The

IEF contracted labour-based contractors who, in turn, hired

labour within the local communities. The District Works

Officer from the District Council supervised works weekly

and signed contractors’ certificates for works.

The innovation here was that the IEF was considered

the main contractor and won the contract on the basis

of carrying out both the works and supervision. The IEF

managed the procurement of small-scale local contractors

and signed the contracts. This enabled the Central Tender

Board to consider the IEF as one contractor managing a

series of subcontractors; and hence only one approval was

required rather than 47 separate ones.

However, the IEF was not strictly speaking a management

contractor since the PCO paid the small labour-based

MANAGEMENT


MANAGEMENT

contractors directly, and the IEF was paid a fee for its

services. Thus, the IEF was, in effect, a hybrid consultant/

contractor. This arrangement is illustrated in the diagram

below.

Programme Results

Works & ContractingThe main result was 700km of gravel road built 4.5m wide

with various drainage structures at a cost of around $4.5m.

Out of 47 contracts, there were 6 terminations during the

5-year implementation period. This meant that the average

of $6,400/km for full road rehabilitation achieved by SHEMP

labour-based contracts compared favourably with the

approximately $15,000/km prevalent in many countries.

In terms of local business benefits, several contractors have

seen their capacity increased:

Marklev had contracts for ZMK 330m and ZMK 350m •

and have been able to purchase a compactor, water

bowser and tractor.

Continental Labour Based had contracts worth ZMK •

419m and ZMK 670m and have purchased 2 cars,

2 tractors, a generator, 3 water tanks and 2 water

pumps.

Plough Africa had contracts for ZMK 398m, ZMK 718m •

and ZMK 457m and have purchased 1 car, 2 trucks, a

roller, a water bowser and 2 pipe moulds.

Benefits

Road improvements have directly led to improved

accessibility, reduced transport costs and greater access to

social and economic services. The average first year rate of

return was estimated at 30%.

One vivid example of the kind of human benefits brought

about by the project is the bridge built, thanks to the

SHEMP programme, over a crossing at Kaweluwelu on the

Haanjalika road. Before the bridge was built, this crossing

was frequently impassable, preventing upwards of 100 out

of 530 pupils getting to school in Mweemba. According

to the school authorities, this problem has become a thing

of the past – at least, for the lucky pupils able to use the

bridge. Sadly, however, there remain two crossings without

proper bridges on the southern approaches to the school,

which continue to affect some 200 pupils each time there

are rains, resulting in the loss of up to three days of class

time on each occasion.

Community participation in the market access improvement

component of SHEMP has been a constant feature, both

in the planning process – through sub-FARGS (Focal Area

Smallholder Enterprise Development and Marketing Programme (SHEMP)

Programme Coordination Office (PCO)

Implementing Engineering firm

(IEF)ITT/Zulu Burrow Joint Venture

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Overseeing Engineer

Contractors

District Council

Supervise and Certify Works

Pay Contractors Direct

Contract & Supervise

Contractors

Due Diligence

Programme Organisation

Macha-Chongo Road before Macha-Chongo Road after


MANAGEMENT

Resource Groups) – and through the hire of local people

for the road works. These are the two areas clearly spelled

out in the project design where the benefits of community

participation have been most felt.

The members of the sub-FARGS representing the

smallholders are elected by the farmers’ associations in the

various zones of the district. These representatives receive

submissions from their associations regarding the priority

roads for rehabilitation. District officials have rated planning

under SHEMP as even more community driven than under

ZAMSIF (the Zambia Social Infrastructure Fund).

The programme has also generated significant employment.

In 2005, 296,381 worker days were provided – for which

25% of beneficiaries were female – and ZMK 1,058 billion

(US$320,000) was paid in wages.

On average, transporters experienced a 50% reduction

in replacements of spare parts across a range of vehicle

types and roads. The distance-related operating costs have

reduced by a factor ranging from 60%, for heavy vehicles

(2 and 3 axles), to 49% for cars and light goods vehicles

and 36% for four-wheel drive and related vehicles.

Meanwhile, the number of traders doubled, and the entry

of the Zambian Food Reserves Agency (FRA) has had a

significant impact. Indeed, the FRA has come to be the

major buyer of local maize and offers a premium price. The

resulting presence of the main players in this market has

pulled the average price of maize upwards from ZMK 20,000

to ZMK 30,000 per 50 kg bag. In parallel, the volumes of

maize purchased have also gone up considerably, as shown

in the table below.

Maize Purchases by Traders along Kasosolo Road (Chibombo District) for the Period 2002/2003 to 2007

Source: Field Survey, 2007

A 45-year old widow with 5 children (2

married and 3 at school), summarised the

experience as follows, “the company (the

labour contractor) came at a right time.

There wasn’t enough food last season

and the money assisted, especially for us

widows.”

)sgab gK 05( sesahcruP eziaM

2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007

Olympic Milling 3, 000 6,000 8,000 10,000 Lukanga Agric marketing Enterprise

600 600 650 650 680

Food Reserve Agency N/A N/A N/A 26,740 40,000

FVG Kabwe Milling N/A 6,000 10,000 17,000 20,000

Wirewell Simwinga N/A N/A N/A 100 200

Avon Agric Marketing Company N/A N/A N/A 10,000 5,200

080,67 094,26 056,6 006,9 006 latoT


MANAGEMENT

Low-Volume Roads Engineering Best Practices: Application and Training

Gordon R. Keller, PE, GEGeotechnical Engineer, USA

Low-volume roads have long been known to contribute

to substantial erosion and sediment production, as well

as create other problems such as channel modifications or

slope instability. Sixty to seventy percent of the roads in

most countries are “rural” and often unsurfaced or with

only a gravel surfacing. Roads are a basic part of rural

infrastructure and needed for development and access to

critical areas such as schools and clinics, as well as movement

of goods and services, etc. Roads are also relatively

expensive. Thus, design and maintenance practices should

be used that help prolong the useful life of the road and

minimise problems. Roads Best Management Practices, or

BMPs, have been drawn up and are particularly useful for

developing long-term, cost-effective designs for roads –

designs that incorporate mitigation measures to minimise

adverse environmental impacts, protect water quality,

minimise the need for maintenance and make roads more

resistant to the impacts of storms.

Good “Road Engineering” today involves a blend of three

basic components:

Application of Basic Engineering and Design 1. Concepts: including good planning and location;

drainage analysis; good road surface drainage; proper

use and installation of culverts, fords and bridges;

building stable slopes and use of slope stabilisation

measures; proper use of roadway materials; and

appropriate road maintenance.

Environmental Awareness and Application of 2. Practical Environmental Mitigation Measures: such as erosion and sediment control; water quality

protection; fish passages and wildlife crossings; and

invasive species control.

Use of Appropriate, Innovative Technologies:3. to

facilitate work and make it more cost-effective, such

as GIS mapping; use of geosynthetics; trenchless

technology; mechanically stabilised earth structures;

biotechnical erosion control and slope stabilisation

measures; and simple in-situ site characterisation tools.

Many useful references exist today to help promote

and guide road work in an “environmentally friendly”

and technically sound manner.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) has an extensive low-volume road system across

the United States, and operates in a very environmentally

conscious world. Thus, it has developed many useful

design techniques and mitigations, and has presented

Roads Engineering Best Practices training to numerous

agencies and groups worldwide – introducing the subjects

of “road engineering” and environmental protection with

a “holistic” perspective. Much of this information has been

summarised in a recent publication, Low-Volume Roads Engineering Best Management Practice Field Guide,

written by G. Keller and J. Sherar. The guide is currently

available in English, Spanish and Portuguese and this

technically based and environmentally conscious training

for low-volume roads is unique. Courses have typically

been from two to five days long, and ideally include time

in the field evaluating local roads.

Some of the key objectives of Roads BMPs are to:

Produce a safe, cost-effective, environmentally-friendly •

and practical road design that meets the needs of the

users;

Protect water quality and reduce sediment into water •

bodies;

Avoid land use conflicts;•

Protect sensitive areas and reduce ecosystem impacts;•

Maintain natural channels, flows and passage for •

aquatic organisms;

Minimise ground and drainage channel disturbance;•

Control road surface water and stabilise the roadbed •

driving surface (see lack of water control in Figure 1,

and measures to control and prevent the concentration

of water in Figure 2);

Control erosion and protect exposed soil areas;•

Implement slope stabilisation measures where •

needed;

Avoid problematic areas; and•

Stormproof and extend the useful life of the road. •

Millions of dollars are spent annually in the US and other

countries on storm damage repairs. Most of this work is

to repair existing roads and transportation facilities, many

of which are not well designed or maintained. Agencies

cannot afford to build roads to be 100 percent storm


MANAGEMENT

resistant, or “stormproof”. They can, however, make them

more storm resistant, and measures can be taken to reduce

the risk of storm damage from any given event, particularly

through the application of Roads Best Management

Practices.

Storm damage risk reduction measures include many

maintenance, drainage improvement and structural items.

Roadway surface drainage structures, such as ditches,

cross-drains and rolling dips need to be clean, properly

armoured and properly spaced to prevent concentration

of water. Drainage crossing structures, such as bridges,

fords and culverts, need to have adequate capacity; or at

least be clear of debris, well-armoured, scour resistant and

functioning properly. Trash racks can be added. Marginally

stable road cuts and fills can be stabilised with retaining

structures, drainage and modified slopes; and reinforced

with vegetation or soil bio-engineering treatments, etc.

(See Figure 3).

Since low-volume or rural roads are very much needed,

but expensive, it is important to build roads in a manner

that minimises their long-term cost and maximises their

usefulness, while limiting negative environmental impacts.

The application of BMPs helps to achieve these goals. The

Low-Volume Roads Engineering Best Management Practice

Field Guide is available at the following Forest Service

International Programs website:

http://www.fs.fed.us/global/topic/welcome.htm#8

(Look under ‘Sustainable Forestry Practices’ in the

Practitioner’s Toolbox. Simply scroll down to the bottom

of the box for the Spanish version. For more information,

contact Gordon Keller, Geotechnical Engineer, via E-mail at:

[email protected])

Figure 1: A poorly drained road that concentrates water, damages the road, and causes soil erosion and water quality degradation.

Figure 2 Measures used to drain a roadway surface, such as an inslope, outslope, or crown section, and use of a rolling grade to minimise water

concentration.

Figure 3 Slope stability problems and solutions using a variety of slope stabilisation measures including buttresses, flatter slopes, drainage, use

of vegetation, and fills compacted with layer placement.


ROAD SAFETY

Road Safety Management Using Crash Prediction Models

Gianluca Dell’Acqua, Renato Lamberti & Francesca RussoDepartment of Transportation Engineering “Luigi Tocchetti”, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Many studies in scientific literature dealing with roadway

safety have evaluated how human, infrastructural and

environmental factors can influence an unexpected event.

Some researchers have shown how collisions tend to occur

disproportionately on certain roadway segments. This

implies that, in addition to driver error, road characteristics

play a major role in collision occurrence. Crashes have been

defined in the literature as the result of bad decisions made

by the driver in an environment created by the engineer.

International researchers1 have, thus, suggested a variety

of approaches for analysing road traffic safety levels, based

on a valuation of the correlation between crash rates and

the lack of roadway alignment consistency.

Since 2003, the Department of Transportation Engineering

at the University of Naples has been conducting a major

research programme based on speed and crash data

ROAD SAFETY

TTwwoo--LLaannee RRooaaddss Length

[Km]

ADT Average Daily Traffic in

vehicles/day

Roadway width [m]

Injurious events

per year per Km

Average 4.60 3,300.15 7.69 0.12

Standard error 0.18 148.11 0.07 0.01

Median 3.25 1,789.75 7.00 0.00

Mode / 1,174.00 7.00 0.00

Standard deviation 4.36 3,554.75 1.75 0.28

Sample variation 18.98 12,636,264.81 3.05 0.08

Kurtosis 22.19 3.10 2.62 15.20

Asymmetry 3.20 1.78 1.38 3.49

Interval 50.02 18,855.50 11.83 2.13

Minimum 0.08 201.50 4.50 0.00

Maximum 50.11 19,057.00 16.30 2.13

Sum 2,651.21 1,900,889.20 4,427.47 71.36

Total 576.0 576.00 576.00 576.00

MMuullttii--llaannee RRooaaddss Length

[Km]

ADT Average Daily Traffic in

vehicles/day

Roadway width [m]

Injurious events

per year per Km

Average 3.82 18,904.78 7.44 1.69

Standard error 0.42 1,957.54 0.38 0.36

Median 2.44 12,696.88 7.25 0.00

Mode / 41,675.00 11.25 0.00

Standard deviation 3.33 15,413.69 2.96 2.82

Sample variation 11.07 237,581,939.93 8.74 7.94

Kurtosis 1.82 -1.19 -0.72 12.20

Asymmetry 1.57 0.59 0.30 3.00

Interval 14.38 48,259.33 11.50 16.47

Minimum 0.52 1,247.67 3.50 0.00

Maximum 14.90 49,507.00 15.00 16.47

Sum 236.78 1,172,096.44 461.00 104.78

Total 62.00 62.00 62.00 62.00

TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics


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collection on two-lane rural roads2. The programme

analysed data collected with respect to crashes over a

period of three years, from 2003 to 2005. Table 1 refers

to descriptive statistics for geometric features and crashes

resulting in injury per year per kilometre used in this research-

study. Prior to performing the regression equations, 10% of

the total events were randomly extracted to subsequently

validate two crash prediction models.

Crash Prediction Models Calibration

The calibration procedure for injurious crash prediction

models was performed employing the Gauss-Newton

method, based on the Taylor series, to estimate the

coefficients of employed variables. All the parameters

included in each model are significant, with a 95%

confidence level.

The best specification of ordinary-least-square model (OLS)

for multi-lane roadways was developed using analysis of

223 kilometres of Italian roadways and 1,205 injurious

crashes. The equation-form is as follows:

where

y1 : number of injurious crashes per year per km

ADT : average daily traffic in vehicles per day observed over

three years

Lu : length of the analysed roadway segment in km

The adjusted coefficient of determination (ρ²) of the model

is equal to 67.3%. Observed residuals have a minimum

value of zero and a maximum value of 6.50; the average

value is 0.48, while the standard deviation is 1.66, in

injurious crashes per year per kilometre.

The best specification of OLS for two-lane roads was

developed using analysis of 2,651 kilometres of Italian

roadways and 1,131 injurious crashes. The equation-form

is as follows:

is as follows:

where:

V : mean speed in free flow conditions on a selected

roadway segment, in km/h

VGI : vertical grade indicator of a selected roadway

segment equal to 0.8 for low value of a mean

grade, 0.9 for high value of a mean grade and 1 for

very high value of a mean grade

CI : curvature indicator of a selected roadway segment

equal to 0.8 for a low value of mean curvature, 0.9

for high value of mean curvature and 1 for very

high value of mean curvature

La : roadway width in metres

The adjusted coefficient of determination (ρ²) of the model

is equal to 68%. Observed residuals have a minimum value

of zero and a maximum value of 1.89; the average value

is 0.03 while the standard deviation is equal to 0.26, in

injurious crashes per year per kilometre.

The effectiveness of the two prediction models was

estimated from the diagram of residuals, based on the

average daily traffic (ADT values) using Hauer’s procedure3

as illustrated in figure 1.

The left-hand column shows, by reference to multi-lane

roads, the quadratic residuals on the y-axis. The ADT/1,000

values on the x-axis correspond to the same roadway

Multi-lane Roads Diagram ADT-Cumulated squared residuals

020

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

0 10 20 30 40 50

Squ

are

d I/

F c

rash

es p

er y

ear

ADT/1,000 [vehicles/day]

Two-Lane Roads CuRe diagram

-2,50

-2,00

-1,50

-1,00

-0,50

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

CuR

e

TGM

ADT

-

-

-

-

- 0

FIGURE 1 Diagram of residuals


ROAD SAFETY

segments. For ADT ≤, 10,000 vehicles per day appears to

be an “outlier”, where the real crash rate is approximately

dissimilar to the predictive value, and more investigations

may be necessary to decide whether or not to use these

observations. The right-hand column shows, by reference

to rural roads, the Cumulative Residuals on the y-axis

and the ADT values corresponding to the same roadway

segments on the x-axis.

Crash Prediction Models ValidationThis section presents the validation procedure of crash

prediction models for multi-lane and two-lane rural roads.

The data used in this phase has not been included in

the calibration phase of some models. 10% of the total

observed crash data was initially extracted from the entire

database for subsequent use in the validation procedure

– respectively representing 60 multi-lane roads, covering

220 km and 58 injurious crashes from 2003 to 2005, and

7 two-lane roads covering 18 Km and 11 injurious crashes

over the same three years.

The descriptive statistics of the features used to validate the

two models for prediction of injurious crashes are shown

in Table 2.

The validation procedure estimates the following synthetic

statistical parameters:

Residual (Di) = value estimated from the difference •

between predicted fatal crash values Yi and the

observed fatal crash values Yi: Di=Yi-Yi.

MAD (Mean Absolute Deviation in injurious crashes •

per year per kilometre) = constant value equal to the

sum of the absolute values of Di divided by the total

number (n) of observations

MSE (Mean Squared Error in squared injurious crashes •

per year per kilometre) = constant value equal to the

sum of Di squared divided by n

I = constant value equal to the square root of MSE •

divided by the mean of the predictive injurious

crashes

The predictive crash model for multi-lane roads has a MAD

value of 3.55 and an MSE value of 17.93. For two-lane

roads, the model has a MAD value of 0.48 and an MSE

value of 0.72. Thus, it can be concluded that two crash

prediction models are statistically significant given that the

residual values are in a limited range around the mean, and

the MAD, MSE and I indicators have a low value.

Results and Conclusions

The proposed objective was to identify the relationship

between existing causality events related to the geometric

and functional characteristics of the examined network (in

the Province of Salerno, Italy) and the number of injurious

crashes recorded. Once the data was gathered, a database

was created in order to process it. The calibration procedure

covered 223 kilometres of multi-lane roads, where 1,205

injurious crashes occurred from 2003 to 2005, and 2,651

latoT xaM niM .dtS.veD naem elbairaV

MULTI-LANE ROADS

[vehicles/day] 10,156.10 7,965.12 161,300 23,499.50 71,092.67

Roadway Segment Length [Km] 2.64 2.55 0.53 7.99 18.49

Injurious crashes per year 0.52 1.39 0.00 3.67 3.67

TWO-LANE ROADS

ADT [vehicles/day] 3,038.11 3,120.35 230.25 14,972.00 194,439.15

Roadway Segment Length [Km] 3.54 3.23 0.12 16.79 226.56

Injurious crashes per year 0.30 0.82 0.00 5.00 19.33

V [Km/h] 59.09 9.39 30.00 74.30 -

Curvature Indicator [-] 0.86 0.07 0.80 1.00 -

Vertical Grade Indicator [-] 0.94 0.06 0.80 1.00 -

nDMADn

ii /

1==

nDMSEn

ii /

1

2

=

=

2( )

0 . 1

i i

i

Y YnI Y

n

=

TABLE 2 Descriptive Statistics


ROAD SAFETY

kilometres of two-lane roads, where 1,131 injurious crashes

took place over the same period.

The Gauss-Newton method, based on the ordinary-least-

square model (OLS), was developed to perform final

regression equations to predict the injurious crashes per

year per kilometre, with ρ² > 65%. All the parameters

included in the model are significant to a 95% level of

confidence.

Two crash prediction models were then validated, employing

a crash database that had not been used to calibrate the

prediction models. These two crash prediction models are

statistically significant because the residual values are in a

limited range around the mean.

The proposed models can be used for crash analysis on the

road network, and they can also usefully complement more

detailed models (e.g. crashes at intersections) also arrived

at through ad hoc investigations of specific sites.

The crash prediction models presented here could

significantly inform the planning phase of a given project

and help optimise design. This is especially relevant to the

evaluation and programming of road safety improvement

operations designed for provincial road networks. The

availability of the crash prediction models could notably

enable the administrative authorities to prioritise the

development of infrastructure and the allocation of public

funds towards those areas of the network that are deemed

“critical” from a safety point of view.

_____________________________

References

Mattar-Habib, C, A. Polus and H. Farah, “Further Evaluation of the 1.

Relationship between Enhanced Consistency Model and Crash-

Rates of Two-Lane Rural Roads in Israel and Germany”, European

Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research – EJTIR, Issue 8(4),

Dec. 2008, pp. 320-332.

Dell’Acqua, G. and F. Russo. Speed Factors on Low-Volume Roads 2.

for Horizontal Curves and Tangents. The Baltic Journal of Road and

Bridge Engineering, 2010, 5(2): 89–97. ISSN 1822-427X print, ISSN

1822-4288 on line.

Hauer, E.The Harm Done by Tests of Significance. 3. Accident analysis

and prevention - Elsevier, Vol. 36, 2004, pp. 495-500.

Acknowledgements

The research was conducted under the Italian National Research Project

“Driver speed behaviour evaluation using operating speed profile and

crash predicting models”. The authors wish to thank the Centre for Road

Safety of the Province of Salerno for its support in the research.

Sharing Rural Roads: Low Tech, High Impact Transport Solutions for Public Health

Gary J. ForsterHead of Programmes, Transaid, UK

This article reviews outcomes of a Transaid rural bicycle

ambulance project in Zambia, and similar initiatives in

Nigeria that employ intermediate modes of transport

(IMTs). It focuses particularly on the emergency and non-

emergency transfer of maternity cases.

Maternal mortality and transport

Work by Transaid to review health service transport capacity

in many African countries demonstrates that, as the impact

of transport on health is hard to distinguish from other

health system components, transport management is

ignored – at great cost.

Maternal mortality indicators are receiving much attention

as the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development

Goals grows near. Maternal mortality is a good indicator to

demonstrate the efficiency of an entire health system - the

availability of transport and medical supplies, the presence

of trained health staff, and so on.

Women in labour can spend several hours travelling on a

makeshift stretcher over difficult terrain, causing medical

complications for both mother and child. Even where a

road journey is possible for the patient, a delay of several

days often occurs while her family raises money to hire a

vehicle.

Emergency transport costs are an overwhelming burden

for families across Africa, even over short distances. And

delays in access to health services caused by these financial

difficulties are a key contributor to the prevalence of

obstetric fistula, and the increased vulnerability among

women to this condition.

Intermediate modes of transport for maternal health

The demand for IMT ambulances is significant among

maternity cases. A bicycle ambulance project in Uganda

found that one typical use was the transport of pregnant

women, which accounted for 52% of all medical indications


ROAD SAFETY

for transport. A Malawi study pointed to significant benefits

of using motorcycle ambulances.

IMT ambulances also provide combined health services

transfer. For a bicycle ambulance project on the Zambia/

Malawi border, pregnancy-related cases accounted for

18.5% of use, while malaria cases were 30%. Another

such service, in Malawi, to improve emergency obstetric

care, was often used for injuries and other medical

emergencies.

Zambia bicycle ambulance project

In 2008, Transaid implemented a project in Zambia’s Eastern

Province to produce 40 bicycle ambulances in response to

the urgent need of rural communities to access health

facilities in Petauke, Chipata and Katete districts*.

The bicycle ambulances constructed during the Transaid

project were distributed to community-based home care

volunteers. World Bicycle Relief was working with the

volunteers to distribute 23,000 bicycles as part of the

RAPIDS project (Reaching HIV/AIDS Affected People with

Integrated Development and Support), a World Vision

International-led consortium. The purpose of the Transaid

project was to:

Improve access to healthcare for community inhabitants 1.

in Zambia’s Eastern Province;

Build capacity within the Province for the construction 2.

and maintenance of bicycle ambulances;

Report solutions to issues of rural access, highlight 3.

elements of best practice and provide recommendations

for endorsement by international organisations.

Against the first objective, the project has so far been

successful, with communities having access to a free

bicycle ambulance service. 96% of caregivers said that

the provision of a bicycle ambulance helped them do their

work in the community more effectively.

Over a four-month monitoring period, and by reference

to data from 17 logbooks, these ambulances were used

82 times by caregivers in the community to transport

clients needing healthcare: 28 (40%) calls were for clients

seeking anti-retroviral treatment. Malaria and pregnancy

accounted for 20% and 17% of journeys respectively.

Eighty-six per cent of the trips undertaken were lifesaving

according to the volunteers. This suggests, based on the

monitoring and evaluation data collected, that the project

has saved some 70 lives in six months.

Whereas, using an ox-cart, it used to require between two

to three hours to take a patient to a rural health centre

that was 2.5 kilometres away, clients now receive medical

attention within an average of 30 minutes per journey over

the same distance.

Patients used to sit on bicycles to travel to a rural health

centre. Now they lie flat on a bicycle ambulance, which

is much safer and more comfortable for them. The full

ambulance canopy provides privacy - especially important

for expectant mothers. It also offers shelter from sun and

rain.

The ambulance is readily available when needed, unlike

the cart whose oxen have to be fetched from fields that

are often far from the villages. The convenience of a

detachable stretcher has also made it much easier to cross

rivers, or to take routes on foot that an ox-cart could not

take.

The 40 bicycle ambulances have been used in challenging

road conditions, at night and in all weathers. By trialling

three different designs of bicycle ambulance, valuable

feedback has been obtained to help identify the most

appropriate design in future.

Of three different trial designs, one - the bicycle ambulance

with a full canopy and a non-flexible hitch - stands out as

* Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented with Zambian and international partners, including World Bicycle Relief as lead, Disacare, Design for Development, Bicycle Empowerment Network, Namibia and the RAPIDS consortium partners


ROAD SAFETY

superior. Both riders and patients say they prefer it. Other

important comments on the design include:

A designated bicycle should be permanently attached •

to the ambulance. This would also prolong the life of

the threads used in the hitch.

Turning right was difficult when the metal hitch was •

attached to the rear wheel frame rather than the seat-

post.

Tools should be provided with the ambulance, including •

a pump, first-aid kit and bicycle spanners.

Lights should be provided for riding at night, when •

some emergency call-outs occur.

Bicycle weight should be reduced, or geared bicycles •

provided, to ease uphill journeys.

The Namibian design is wider than standard door •

frames - causing problems when moving patients.

The project has also seen capacity built within Zambia’s

Eastern Province for the construction and maintenance of

these bicycle ambulances. Ten field mechanics were trained

in the necessary skills and played a key role.

Total project cost was US$43,000 including production,

distribution and monitoring and evaluation – approximately

half the cost of one motorised 4x4 wheel ambulance.

Running costs are very low compared to motor transport.

The further development of this encouraging pilot is being

continually monitored. Most recent data, over 18 months

and awaiting further analysis, indicates 251 life-saving

journeys, and the longest of any journey was over 40

kilometres.

Transaid IMT health care projects in Nigeria

For PATHS (Partnership for Transforming Health Systems)

Nigeria, Transaid developed a prototype motorcycle trailer

ambulance to assist pregnant women and those with

obstetric complications to have access to safe delivery

and improved health care in general. Four ambulances

were manufactured locally, pre-tested and handed over to

the Ministry of Women for community use. The project

produced a lot of learning points and, for a period, made

a significant impact.

Unfortunately, a combination of budget and time constraints

prevented the implementation of a comprehensive

monitoring and evaluation system to quantify the full

benefits of this intervention.

One of the problems in this respect was a lack of sustainable

maintenance funds. This meant that no maintenance

training or community sensitisation could be undertaken.

Also, the ambulances were deployed in the most extremely

rugged terrain imaginable.

This highlights that the management and maintenance of

running costs for IMTs are critical factors. The establishment

of community-managed emergency loan funds (ELFs) can

reduce delays in obtaining funds in emergencies – be they

medical or transport maintenance related. For the PATHS

scheme, while communities were slow to grasp the ELF

concept, four out of 36 participating villages currently have

one in operation.

Conclusions

Transaid’s bicycle ambulance project in eastern Zambia

shows the efficacy of using bicycle ambulances to provide

access to health services. Our projects in Africa likewise

demonstrate possible IMT solutions that genuinely engage

communities in supporting such access and responding to

urgent infant and maternal health care needs.

Yet, there is only limited data in current literature covering

the impacts and operational aspects of IMT. This suggests

that both local knowledge and wider research on the

links between mobility, transport and health are lacking

in southern, low-income settings. No clear picture of the

overall cost effectiveness of improving transport for health

exists.

It is, thus, difficult to determine the sustainability of projects

such as those by Transaid reported here. The capital and

running costs of IMT projects must be assessed to justify

their appropriateness as long-term solutions to problems


ROAD SAFETY

of rural health access. Otherwise, “adverse and often

tragic consequences” may well result for those needing

emergency care.

This data will not appear if IMT projects continue to be small

scale, with inadequate monitoring and evaluation funding.

This becomes a vicious circle. Insufficient monitoring and

evaluation means no significant impact data is available: so

donors are unwilling to fund IMT projects.

Apart from needing better quality and longer-term data,

development policy must change to acknowledge how

IMTs are already proving effective, as our experience

shows. It should recognise how they can form an integral

part of the transport response to medical emergencies,

significantly reducing risks of maternal, child and other

avoidable deaths, illness and injury.

About TransaidTransaid is a British international development charity that

seeks to reduce poverty and improve quality of life through

providing better access to basic services and economic

opportunities. For further details of the bicycle ambulance

designs, please contact [email protected].

Hanson, R., (2004), 1. Transport Management Systems for Improved

Access to Health – A Holistic Approach, Transaid Presentation, 8th

TransNet Event - Workshop on “Mobility & Health” (26.11.04)

Hamlin, C., (2004), 2. Preventing Fistula: Transport’s Role in

Empowering Communities for Health in Ethiopia, (August 30-

September 13, 2004) BACK TO OFFICE REPORT, Addis Ababa

Fistula Hospital

Heyen-Perschon, J., 3. Summary on the FABIO/BSPW - Bicycle

Ambulance Project (Uganda), ITDP Europe

Jan J. Hofman, Chris Dzimadzi, Kingsley Lungu, Esther Y. Ratsma, 4.

Julia Hussein, (2008), Motorcycle ambulances for referral of

obstetric emergencies in rural Malawi: Do they reduce delay and

what do they cost?, International Journal of Gynecology and

Obstetrics 102, 191–197

Balogun, I, A., (2008), 5. Draft Report of the Assessment of

Motorcycle Ambulance Trailers in Jigawa State, Transaid, July

2008

Balogun, I, A., (2008), 6. Draft Report of the Assessment of

Motorcycle Ambulance Trailers in Jigawa State, Transaid, July

2008

Victor Mengot, Sarah Amahson, Umar Farouk Wada, (2005), 7.

Feasibility Study into Options for Extending Emergency Transport

for Safe Motherhood in Jigawa, Nigeria Partnership for

Transforming Health Systems (PATHS)

Schmid, R., (2004), 8. Report of the workshop on “Mobility

& Health”, TransNet event, 26.11.04, Hotel “Bern”, Bern,

Switzerland

Babinard, J., (2006), 9. Transport for health in developing countries;

Overview of issues and measures to improve access – MDG4&5

context, presentation, January 30, 2006, Transport and Urban

Development (TUDTR), The World Bank

Macintyre, K., Hotchkiss, D, R., (1999), 10. Referral revisited:

Community Financing Schemes and Emergency Transport in

Rural Africa, Social Science & Medicine 49 (1999) 1473±1487

A Global Crisis

Rob McInerneyCEO, International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP)

Luke RogersSenior Engineer, iRAP Asia Pacific

The scale of the crisis is staggering and the death toll will

continue to rise unless action is taken. The World Health

Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 1.3 million

people each year are killed in road crashes, a figure that is

likely to double by 2030 unless preventative measures are

put in place (WHO, 2009).

Road crashes impact every community and are the leading

cause of death for people aged between 5 and 29 years

(WHO, 2009). Road crashes are estimated to cost 1-3%

of Gross National Product around the world and research

indicates that, by 2020, developing countries will be

spending 25% of their annual health budgets on road

traffic casualties (Peden et al, 2004). Not only are these

figures shocking in terms of the scale of loss of life, but

these recurring annual losses also have a huge impact –

particularly on the social and economic development of


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low and middle-income countries, where nine out of ten of

the world’s road deaths and injuries occur.

For example, during a recent iRAP assessment of national

highways in Bangladesh, road traffic injuries were shown

to be one of the major causes of mortality and disability in

the country, with almost one-fifth of injury related hospital

admissions due to road traffic crashes (Hoque et al, 2010).

There were at least 3,765 reported fatalities in Bangladesh

in 2008, although WHO estimates that the actual number

of fatalities could be 20,038 each year (WHO, 2009). 70%

of road deaths occurred on rural highways (Hoque et al,

2010).

In March 2010, the United Nations declared 2011-2020

to be the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The goal of

the initiative is to stabilise and then reduce the forecast

level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing

activities conducted at the national, regional and global

levels. Improving safety on rural roads, which present a

range of infrastructure design challenges around the world,

will be critical to the success of the Decade of Action.

Major reductions in deaths and serious injuries on rural roads are achievable

The targeted reductions for the Decade are ambitious

but achievable. There are already numerous examples of

substantial improvements in safety on rural roads. Take

Victoria, Australia, for example, where there has been a

marked reduction in fatal and serious injuries involving

collisions with fixed roadside objects on high-speed rural

roads. Figure 1 shows the improvement made since 2002,

prior to which there was an upward trend in the number

of deaths and serious traumas involving crashes into fixed

objects.

The improvements in Victoria correspond with a concerted

effort by the Government on a range of initiatives such as

speed and alcohol enforcement, education, safer vehicles

and, in particular, the Safer Road Infrastructure Program

(SRIP). A focus of the SRIP is on reducing run-off-road

crashes by installing roadside barriers, shoulder sealing

and rumble lines along road edges, and removing roadside

objects and hazards such as trees and poles (see Figure 2).

A preliminary evaluation of stage 1 of the programme found

it had reduced casualty crashes by almost 20%; and for

each Australian dollar invested, $2.3 were saved in terms

of crash costs avoided (Scully et al, 2008). Consequently,

the Government has now committed to an unprecedented

$650 million to expand the programme into the Decade of

Action for Road Safety (VicRoads, 2010).

Similar improvements are also being undertaken at high-

risk locations in Malaysia. Figure 3 shows a section of road

on the FT60 in Perak, where risk of run-off–road crashes has

been reduced by improving pavement condition, widening

shoulders and installing profiled road markings (vibraline).

Notably, iRAP Star Ratings have been used as an interim

performance measure for this location, as detailed before-

and-after crash data is not yet available. The iRAP analysis

showed that the Star Ratings improved from 2-stars to

3-stars for motorcyclists as a result of the improvements

at this site.

On State Highway 1 in New Zealand, the risk of death

and serious injury was dramatically reduced when the

Source: Analysis of VicRoads CrashStats data, 2010.Notes: ‘High speed’ roads have a speed limit of 90km/h+ and ‘rural’ roads are those outside

Melbourne.

Figure 2 - Simple, affordable improvements such as shoulder sealing, safety barriers, delineation and signs have helped reduce the risk of deaths and serious injuries on this rural

highway (Source: Holgate, 2008)

Figure 1: Deaths and serious injuries as a result of crashes into fixed objects on high-speed rural roads,

Victoria, Australia


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Government installed a median barrier on a 3.4km length

of the Coast Road, north of Wellington (see Figure 4).

Over the five year period prior to the initial median barrier

installation (between 2000 and 2004) collision records

indicate that there were seven fatal crashes and three

serious injury crashes. In the following five year period

(from 2005 to 2009) there was just one serious injury crash

(Road Safety Toolkit, 2010).

Identifying High-risk Roads

As a not-for-profit organisation, iRAP is dedicated to

saving lives by helping countries identify and assess high-

risk roads and develop large-scale plans for affordable

countermeasures that can prevent thousands of deaths

and serious injuries. The programme is supported by the

FIA Foundation, the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility,

the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian

Development Bank.

In regions where detailed crash data is available, Risk Maps

that represent the actual number of deaths and injuries

on a road network can be used. For example, the first

Risk Mapping of more than 2,000km of single carriageway

national roads for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

was published earlier this year. The Risk Mapping results

show that nearly 80% of the road network rated is of

an unacceptably high risk and just over half (1,056km) is

rated in the highest risk category. The results illustrate the

challenge in making roads safe. (Available at: http://irap.

org/media/30731/karta_na_engleskom_final.pdf)

Where reliable data is not available, Star Ratings are

produced, based on road inspection data to provide a

simple and objective measure of the level of safety provided

by a road’s design. The ratings are based on highway

features that have an impact on the likelihood of a crash

and its severity for the four main road user types: vehicle

occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. Five-

star roads are the safest, while one-star roads are the least

safe.

Recent assessments have highlighted the fact that rural

roads in low and middle-income countries need to cater

not just for vehicle occupants, but also for vulnerable road

users, including pedestrians. This is particularly the case

on roads near the outskirts of towns, such as National

Highway 2 in Bangladesh, as shown in Figure 5. These

dual function roads experience the competing demands of

high speed through traffic and vulnerable local users such

as pedestrians and bicyclists. These circumstances often

present high levels of risk and increased numbers of deaths

and serious injuries.

Figure 4 - An example of the Coast Road median barrier (Photo courtesy of the New Zealand Transport Agency)

Figure 5 - Pedestrian Star Ratings for National Highway 2, Bangladesh (Source: iRAP, 2010.)

Figure 3 - By improving the pavement, widening shoulders and installing profiled road markings on this section of the FT60 in Malaysia, Star Ratings for motorcyclists improved

from 2-stars to 3-stars (Source: Rogers and Hashi, 2010).


ROAD SAFETY

Safer Roads Investment Plans

Crashes that kill on rural roads are well understood and

engineering solutions are well established and proven. Safe

speeds, footpaths and safe crossing points for pedestrians,

separation of high speed oncoming traffic with barriers,

the removal or protection of roadside hazards and the

management of speeds and conflict points at intersections

can all save lives.

By applying the knowledge gained through decades of

road infrastructure safety practice, it is possible to create

large-scale plans for improving high-risk road networks.

This approach was recently taken by the Government of

Vietnam, with support from the World Bank Global Road

Safety Facility and iRAP. After a detailed assessment of the

condition of a 3,500km network, a US$195 million plan

was developed. It was estimated that by applying proven

road safety countermeasures 78,000 deaths and serious

injuries could be prevented over a 20-year period (or 3,930

deaths and serious injuries annually). For each $1 invested

in the plan, $6 in crash costs would be saved.

The plan includes proposals for:

clearing roadside hazards;•

construction of motorcycle lanes (noting that up to •

90% of road users are motorcyclists);

horizontal realignment of dangerous curves;•

improved delineation;•

physical separation of opposing traffic flows •

(duplication) where head on risk is high.

With more than 30 people killed every day on Vietnamese

roads, and 6 out of 10 patients in the Viet Duc University

Hospital trauma centre being admitted with injuries

resulting from road crashes, a coordinated road safety

initiative could have a huge potential impact on the lives

of ordinary people and significantly reduce the number of

high-risk roads in the region. The results of the project

are now being incorporated into the national road safety

strategy and Development Bank road projects. The plan

has the potential to reduce road trauma by 24% on those

roads assessed.

A world free of high-risk roads

The Decade of Action for Road Safety will require a

concerted effort across all aspects of road safety: road

user behaviour; vehicle safety; speed management; and

infrastructure. To help provide a sense of the contribution

that infrastructure may make to the Decade, new estimates

argue that, globally, we can prevent more than 1.7 million

deaths and serious injuries per year from 2020 by targeting

high-risk roads with simple, affordable road improvements

(McInerney et al, 2010).

An estimated 1,735,000 deaths and serious injuries can

be avoided every year if economically viable engineering

improvements are applied to the worst 10% of roads in

each country. Within low-income countries, this will cost

on average only US$2,000 per KSI (killed or seriously injured

person) saved, and between $7,000 and $30,000 per KSI

saved in middle-income countries. Globally, this investment

would return $5 of benefits for every $1 invested in low

and middle income countries and $3 of benefits for every

$1 invested in high-income countries. The total economic

return on the investment would exceed $3,700 billion and

save over 3,000,000 lives and 30,000,000 serious injuries

over the 20-year life of the treatments.

References

Holgate, J., 2008. 1. Victoria’s Safer Road Infrastructure Program

(SRIP). VicRoads Presentation to Institute of Public Works

Engineering Australia.

Hoque, M.M., et al, 2010. 2. The Potential Applicability of iRAP

Star Ratings for Improving Highway Safety in Bangladesh. 24th

ARRB Conference.

iRAP, 2010.3. Bangladesh Pilot Project Technical Report.

iRAP, 2009. 4. Vietnam Technical Report.

McInerney, R., Turner, B. and Smith, G., 2010. 5. A world free of

high-risk roads. 24th ARRB Conference Proceedings.

Peden, M Scurfield, R Sleet, D Mohan, D Hyder, A Jarawan, E & 6.

Mathers, C 2004, World report on road traffic injury prevention,

World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Road Safety Toolkit, 20107. . The Coast Road Median Barrier. Case

study provided by the New Zealand Transport Agency. http://

toolkit.irap.org/default.asp?page=casestudy&id=1

Rogers and Hashim, 2010. 8. iRAP Review of Malaysia Works

Minister KPI 2009 Programme. (Publication pending).

VicRoads CrashStats, 2010. http://crashstat1.roads.vic.gov.au/9.

crashstats/crash.htm

VicRoads, 2010. http://www.arrivealive.vic.gov.au/first_action_10.

plan_2008_2010/safer_roads_and_roadsi/safer_roads_and_

roadsides.html

World Health Organization (2009), 11. Global Status Report on Road

Safety. Time for Action.


SHARING THE ROAD

Worldwide Trends in Animal-Powered Transport

Paul StarkeyConsultant in Transport Services and Integrated Transport

Animal-powered transport has a long heritage and is

admired in traditional cultures around the globe. In

prestigious locations worldwide, tourists pay premium fares

for horse carriage transport. In Seychelles, tourist oxcarts

charge more than taxis. However, in many countries, animal

power is regarded as old fashioned and backward. Some

authorities, reportedly acting for modernisation, safety,

animal welfare, cleanliness or reduced congestion, have

banned transport animals. This article reviews the main

transport animals and world trends bringing out policy

implications to allow animal transport to share the road

with motor vehicles.

The main transport animals

For thousands of years, roads were primarily for animal-

drawn vehicles. Oxcarts were the main means of freight

transport. Long-distance oxcart transport has been

replaced by trucks but in Madagascar (300,000 oxcarts)

some traders still travel in caravans of ten, or more, carts.

Oxen (castrated bulls) are widely available. They are strong

and robust and feed themselves on grass and forage.

Oxen remain appropriate for smallholder farmers – aiding

sustainable, integrated agricultural production and access

to markets on rural roads.

Horses are faster than oxen and better suited for rapid

transport. They are adapted to temperate, semi-arid

and highland areas but are less robust, needing more

complicated feeding, management and harnesses.

Smallholder farmers use horses for on-farm and farm-to-

market transport in some countries including Chile, Eastern

Europe and Mexico. In many countries, entrepreneurs use

horses for trading, marketing and transport services in

urban and rural areas.

Donkeys are small, strong and robust. They thrive in semi-

arid areas and are excellent pack animals. They pull carts for

smallholder farmers and transport entrepreneurs. Donkeys

are relatively inexpensive to buy and easy to maintain,

making them accessible to disadvantaged people, including

women.

Mules (donkey/horse crosses) are relatively rare and

expensive. They are large, strong, robust, long-lived and

excellent for pulling wagons on roads and for packing and

riding in mountains. Their cost and behaviour means they

are mainly used by transport contractors and medium-

scale farmers.

Camels are fast and good for long-distance pack transport,

although caravans are now rare. Camel carts are mainly

used by transport contractors (e.g., in India and Pakistan).

Smallholder farmers in the Philippines use buffalo-

drawn sledges for rice transport. Some buffalo carts are

employed in South Asia but water buffaloes have poor

thermoregulation. Other transport animals, including

elephants, yaks, llamas, goats and dogs have more limited

ranges or transport applications.

Current trends

Animal transport has a long heritage, but is not history.

Tens of millions of work animals are employed today,

sharing the road in most countries in the world.

China has the largest number of transport animals (perhaps

70 million) but these are decreasing. On farms, smallholder

oxen and buffaloes are being replaced by power tillers and

tractors, which are increasingly used for farm-to-market

transport. Motorcycles, three-wheelers and pickups are

substituting for donkeys and horses, mainly in the more

developed areas. In remoter and hillier areas, animal-

powered transport remains important. Millions of animals

will be used for many years to come.

In India and South Asia, oxcarts remain important for

smallholder transport and rural and urban transport

entrepreneurs, with ten million oxcarts sharing Indian roads.

Numbers are slowly declining, as farmers move to tractors

and transport entrepreneurs adopt three-wheelers. Decline

is slowest in remote areas. Horse populations in South and

Southeast Asia and the Pacific are low, but ponies remain

important for pack transport in hills, and some pull tourist

SHARING THE ROAD


SHARING THE ROAD

taxis and urban carts. The donkey population of Pakistan

and Afghanistan increased from 4.4 to 5.6 million in the

past decade. Some people have replaced donkeys with

motorcycles or three-wheelers, but many others lack

affordable access to motor transport and still benefit from

donkeys. In central and western Asia, transport oxen

are used in some remote areas, but the more important

employment of horses and donkeys for urban and rural

transport is relatively stable. Richer people in these countries

have adopted motorised transport, but large numbers of

others still benefit from transport animals.

In North Africa, horses and donkeys remain important for

urban and rural transport, notably in Egypt and Morocco.

In Ethiopia, agricultural oxen have few transport roles, but

five million donkeys are used for pack transport. Donkey

carts (recent innovations) are slowly increasing. Urban

horse taxis are declining rapidly due to motorised three

wheelers.

In West Africa, animal power is expanding. Donkeys are

increasing (4.5 to 6.3 million in the past decade) and

moving southward. More donkey carts are used in semi-

arid areas. Oxen are the main tillage animals (increasing six

fold in the past 50 years) and also pull carts, particularly in

southern areas where donkeys do not thrive. Conditions in

much of Central Africa are not conducive to work animals.

However, in Eastern and Southern Africa there is expansion

and diversification of animals for transport. In South Africa,

animal transport has a great heritage, but was discouraged

during Apartheid years. It remains important, although

some people think of it as backward.

In the Americas, large-scale farms use tractors but oxen

remain common in smallholder farming systems and

for rural transport in several countries, including Brazil,

Paraguay and Honduras. However, horses, mules and

donkeys are the main transport animals. Their numbers

are quite steady, including the large populations found in

Brazil and Mexico. Horses are used by significant numbers

of smallholder farmers in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Horse

carts are used for urban transport in some towns in Brazil,

Colombia, Nicaragua and Cuba. Cuba has promoted animal

power in recent years (due to fuel shortages) and it has

increased successfully. Animal power has also expanded

on smallholder farms run by Amish families in the USA.

Despite recent growth in motorcycles, animal transport

remains important in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

In Western Europe, animal transport is limited to contexts

like tourism, forestry, parks and municipal operations

(where it increases). Europe once had millions of donkeys

for rural transport. The patterns of their decline in different

countries illustrate how rural people retain donkeys

until they can afford motor transport. Animal power for

agriculture and transport remains important in Eastern

Europe, but the patterns of replacement are following

those of Western Europe, influenced by the affordability

of motor power and the labour constraints associated with

maintaining transport animals.

Policy issues: reluctance to share the road

Animal-powered transport offers social and economic

benefits for farmers and transport entrepreneurs. Farmers

with animal transport have wider circles of contacts and

increased market access, production and profit. Animals

use renewable, local resources, providing sustainable

transport benefits and employment. They efficiently

complement human transport (small loads, short distances)

and motorised transport (larger loads, longer distances).

Figure 1 - Woman and donkey cart on a low-traffic-volume road in Burkina Faso

Figure 2. Oxcart on shoulder of major rural road in Brazil


ROAD SAFETY

The poor, old-fashioned image of transport animals is

a major constraint affecting all stakeholders. It inhibits

national authorities and aid agencies from treating them

as serious modern options, complementary to vehicles.

Some politicians and development workers think poverty

reduction is replacing animals with motors, yet in most

societies the poorest people cannot even afford animals!

Animal power can be one way of reducing poverty.

More attention should be given to ways of helping poor

individuals and communities use transport animals to

improve their livelihoods.

Rural transport planners often ignore the special needs

of animal-powered transport. Without appropriate

crossings, it is difficult for laden carts to cross roads that

are constructed with steep shoulders or kerbs. Depending

on traffic volumes, special cart lanes or wide shoulders may

be justified.

Animal power has sometimes been banned as a matter

of prejudice, with no allowance for reasonable use in

circumstances where there are no safety, congestion or

welfare issues. In 1963, horse taxis were expelled from

Addis Ababa as Ethiopia portrayed a modern image to

African leaders. Animal transport was similarly banned from

modern Islamabad. In 2007, Romania banned horse carts

from all national roads for ‘modernisation’ and ‘safety’.

This made it illegal for some farmers to travel between

villages and to market. In 2010, Colombia decreed to

replace all urban horse transport with motorised vehicles

by 2012. In South Africa, a 2010 scheme to support rural

communities with animal carts was attacked as ‘insulting’

and ‘backward’.

National transport authority personnel often live in worlds

of modernity, motor vehicles and urban congestion. They

fail to see the value of transport animals in rural areas and

some urban contexts. They need suitable training so they

understand how animal transport can share the road in

appropriate situations.

There is need for sensitive regulation and enforcement.

In urban areas, average traffic speeds are not necessarily

a constraint to animal-drawn transport. Specific routes

can be designated for horse transport, with regulations

for animal welfare and veterinary certificates (as is the

case in Cuba, for instance). Horse operators can collect

their animals’ manure (as works well in Hydra, Greece).

Facilities for waiting animals can be provided at rural

centres (the example of Lesotho), with shade and water

where appropriate. Animal carriages can have standards

for lighting and reflectors (as in Amish areas of the USA).

ConclusionsTransport animals can be used in many modern situations.

In much of sub-Saharan Africa, people are replacing

human transport with animals, where they are available

and affordable. In many countries, some people are

able to replace human or animal power with vehicles.

But many people still cannot. Where there are no easier

alternatives available, people retain labour-saving animal

power, provided it is profitable and socially acceptable.

This explains the persistently high prevalence of transport

animals in much of the world, including the remoter areas

of rapidly industrialising countries like Brazil, China, India,

Indonesia, Mexico and Vietnam.

The old-fashioned image of animal power encourages

transport planners to ‘modernise’ by banning or

marginalising transport animals. Successful examples from

many countries, including the USA and Cuba, show that

animal transport can be appropriately regulated to share

the road, without comprising modernity, welfare, safety or

average traffic speeds. With sensitive planning, legislation

and enforcement, animal transport can contribute to rural

and urban transport, as well as related wealth creation and

environmental protection.

References

This paper draws upon research for a longer document developed

with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Word limits restrict

reference citations here but full references are available from the

author, who may be contacted at the following address: Oxgate, 64

Northcourt Avenue, Reading RG2 7HQ, UK.

Figure 3 - Horse cart and respectful truck drivers who allow it to share a peri-urban road in Cuba. On some routes there are protected lanes for carts and bicycles

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