Transportation Technology Support for Developing Countries. Synthesis 3: Labor-Based Construction and Maintenance of Low-Volume Roads

摘要

One major deficiency in many developing countries' transport systems is the lack of low-volume roads that generally carry only 5-10 vehicles a day but provide some rural areas with their only link to markets and public service facilities. This report, available in English, French, and Spanish, is part of an AID-funded project to improve developing country access to existing information on the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of low-volume roads. This report's specific purpose is to synthesize--mainly for policymakers in the transportation ministry, planners of road programs and chief engineers in the road authority--existing literature on the meaning, concerns, and use of labor-based technologies in low-volume road construction and maintenance in the context of development. A wide range of labor-and equipment-based construction tools and methods (from hoes, picks, crowbars, and wheel-barrows to bulldozers and mechanized excavators and loaders) are discussed because no construction technology is entirely labor-based but instead spans a full spectrum of human, animal, and mechanical resource combinations. A general evaluation framework is presented to assist policymakers in choosing an appropriate mix of construction technologies which is technically, financially, socially, and economically feasible.