RE-SURFACING OF ROAD TARMAC

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RE-SURFACING OF ROAD TARMAC

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(Policy): **

63.

Mr Ong Ah Heng asked the Minister for Transport what is the policy regarding the re-surfacing of road tarmac as many roads have either turned grey and/or layered with different tones of tarmac.

Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: LTA re-surfaces roads when its regular regime of road assessment and maintenance indicate the need to do so. Specially equipped vehicles collect road data on expressways once every year, and on major roads once every three years. The data collected is analysed, and this form the basis for LTA to plan, prioritise and implement its road re-surfacing programmes. In addition, LTA carries out visual inspections of the surfaces of

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expressways every week and of major roads every fortnight. These visual inspections are to pick up any signs of distress or defects along the roads, such as potholes, so that the necessary rectification works can be carried out. Typically, our expressways are resurfaced every three to five years and our major roads every five to 10 years.

For minor and residential roads, regular visual inspections are carried out every two months to assess the need for resurfacing of the roads. When the road surface is found to be in poor condition, re-surfacing would be carried out for the affected stretch. Typically, our minor roads are resurfaced every 10 to 20 years and for the residential roads every 30 to 40 years(4).

Different-coloured tones of road tarmac are typically caused by the road works of various utility service agencies, such as PowerGrid Limited, PowerGas Limited, the Public Utilities Board and Singapore Telecom. When these utility service agencies carry out road works such as pipe or cable laying, LTA requires that the affected lane be re-surfaced once the works are completed. This results in the different-coloured tones between the newly re-surfaced lane and the other lanes. Only the affected lane is re-surfaced, in order to minimise disruption to traffic.

(4) Residential roads are less stressed than other roads.