KUCHING: Road maintenance is an important aspect of ensuring road safety and longevity, according to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Faculty of Engineering.
“With the prevalence of road potholes and the rising number of complaints from drivers, it is more important than ever to prioritise road maintenance and take proactive measures to address these issues,” said its senior lecturer Larry Silas Tirau when met by New Sarawak Tribune today.
Potholes are usually described as holes in the road surface, with diameters ranging from 200 to 1,000 millimetres.
These pavement failures can occur due to multiple factors, such as poor road design, subpar construction practices, and environmental elements such as moisture and temperature.
“Potholes start to show up after a certain period of service life indicating that there’s some problem with the pavement structure,” he explained.
As for treatment, he outlined the two categories of methods used.
“Short-term maintenance methods include patching, which involves filling potholes with new and better quality premix and compacting it with a vibratory plate compactor,” he said.
He highlighted the importance of quality materials in road repair and mentioned “locally-produced premix products such as Fibre Mastic Asphalt and Modified Cold Mix, which utilise advanced technologies to ensure patching spots can sustain loading for a longer period.”
An effective long-term solution for potholes, according to him, is road reconstruction or resurfacing.
“A new layer of premix is laid on top of the old surface, and resurfacing is carried out when the road condition is very poor and funds are available to carry out road maintenance.
“Using appropriate and well-designed pavement mixtures such as stone mastic asphalt, which is specifically engineered to resist potholes to achieve the goal of having zero potholes,” he explained.
This cycle will continue until the need to construct a new road to replace the old one becomes critical.
However, the choice between short and long-term maintenance methods depends on the budget and severity of the road damage.
As Larry puts it, “it is not really about the problems that potholes can give to the road user but how we manage to control that source of problem and impact of potholes to the minimum.”
Therefore, he said collaboration between road users and authorities is key to addressing pothole-related issues.
“Road users should use proper channels to lodge a road complaint, and in the meantime, authorities should provide an efficient maintenance framework and utilise advanced technology available in the market for road repair,” he said.
For instance, Sarawak Roads Update (SRU), a community page on Facebook created by a group of concerned Sarawakians, has been a good example of such collaboration.
The page, which was set up in 2017, has been receiving an average of three pothole-related cases reported every day with the majority of comments being pothole-related.
The creators of SRU have observed that their Facebook page has garnered considerable attention from local authorities and politicians, resulting in a reduction of bureaucracy and expedited action.
The page now boasts 162,386 followers and has reached an impressive 3.8 million visitors over the past 28 days alone, with nearly 3,000 new followers added during that time.
“Many heads of department in government agencies are now following the SRU,” said one of the creators in an interview with New Sarawak Tribune.
“Up until a point where one head of the department reminded his staff to do their job well, to ensure that the department’s name was not being tagged or criticised by road users in SRU,” he said.
When asked about the most commonly reported areas for potholes in the city, he simply replied, “Jalan Setia Raja and Jalan Canna.”
This finding was supported by Larry, who also identified these potholes as prevalent.
Keeping roads in good condition can be a hefty expense, as it calls for the use of heavy machinery and top-of-the-line pavement mixtures.
“In 2021, the Works Ministry allocated a meagre amount of taxpayer funds, RM1.09 billion, for federal road maintenance programmes, which was inadequate given the scope of the task at hand.
“Given that new roads are built every year, the annual funding for road maintenance should increase accordingly,” said Larry.
He also informed that the Public Works Department (PWD) supervises most of the maintenance tasks and utilises their own pothole monitoring system through an application; the Sistem Aplikasi Pemantauan Potholes (ASaPP). In 2019, an estimated 200,000 potholes were found and repaired by PWD.
The government’s commitment to road safety and maintenance remains steadfast, as evidenced by the allocation of substantial funds for the maintenance and repair of roads across the country in Budget 2023.
“Despite reduced funding from previous years, the MARRIS fund has been allocated RM5.2 billion, indicating a commitment to addressing road maintenance issues,” noted Larry.
At the same time he reiterated the importance of proper road maintenance planning for ensuring road safety and urged local authorities to allocate sufficient funding to address potholes and road damage.
To expedite road repairs and reduce red tape, the government is empowering district offices to approve and fund small repair tasks, with the aim of streamlining the repair process and ensuring safer roads for drivers nationwide.
Larry noted that this move is a positive step towards reducing the time and effort required to carry out road repairs.
