Research on Sustainable Paving/Surfacing for Low Volume Rural Roads in Vietnam

Due to increasing concerns as to the suitability of unsealed gravel as the default rural road surfacing in the high rainfall climates of South East Asia, DFID and World Bank have co-funded research into appropriate Low Volume Rural Road (LVRR) pavement and surfacing options in cooperation with the government of Vietnam. The research has been managed through the South East Asia Community Access Programme (SEACAP). The previous widespread provision of unsealed gravel roads was influenced by relatively cheap construction costs in a constrained resource environment. However project SEACAP 4 research on previously constructed gravel roads has shown that in many circumstances these surfaces demonstrate unsustainable levels of material loss and deterioration due to a range of factors such as: high rainfall, flooding incidence, steep gradients, incompatible traffic loading, inadequate quality assurance, and insufficient maintenance capacity.