As per the definition in the Minimum Needs Programme an all-weather road is one having a metalled water bound macadam (WBM) surface with cross drainage works and minor bridges. The thickness of metalling is barely 9 inches. Cross drainage works are those bridges with waterway of less than 6 metres. The minor bridges are those with waterway between 6 metres and 30 metres. However, even minor bridges are rarely constructed. Causeways or Paved dips are preferred in most cases.

It is the experience, however, that such metal roads with thin metal crust do not last even for one year. With the great growth of agriculture and easy availability of motor vehicles, any roads constructed in the rural areas immediately attract bus and truck traffic. It is also quite common to see farmers and rural folk traveling in various kinds of motor vehicles on these roads. The WBM road was basically never meant to carry heavy and fast pneumatic-tyred traffic. It was invented to replace old stone block type roads to take care of animal drawn iron-tyred vehicles. In the initial stages of development of motor vehicles, these roads served fairly well with good maintenance and a very light traffic of motor vehicles. No, however, they ravel in no time under the heavy and

fast pneumatic-tyred motor vehicle traffic. In hilly areas with even slightly more rainfall, the flowing surface rain water washes out all the binding material and the metal then ravels in no time. To make matters worse, the crust thicknesses adopted are not enough to take the weight of heavy vehicles where the sub grade, i.e., the soil on which the metal crust is built, has a poor strength. The Government, therefore usually gets blamed for building poor roads or even for corruption.

It is, therefore, suggested that under this new programme the Government should provide at least a thin asphaltic wearing coat on sufficiently thick metal crust. The thickness of metal curst and the exact type of asphaltic wearing coat would vary from situation to situation depending on several local factors like the soil, the rainfall, the terrain and the availability of good metal as well as the density of expected traffic.

Broadly the alignment of all such new roads should be in keeping with IRC guidelines for geometric standards for rural roads. Even while black topping the present WEBM roads, as far as possible, any patently dangerous feature from the point of view of traffic safety should be improved to render it safe.