Lesson 10
Quality Control of Road Works
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Lesson Objectives
The lesson is intended to draw attention to what is to be
done to ensure that contractors do as specified in the
technical specification regarding material quality and
quantities to use in the construction.
Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate knowledge of what needs to be done to
ensure that road works are carried out with materials and
in a manner that achieves the product specified in the
contract.
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BACKGROUND
Road works, whether new development or
maintenance, are generally executed by contracting.
A contract is a legal agreement between two parties
where one party agrees to carry out certain works in
return for a reward (monetary payment) to be given by
the other party in the contract.
The party which agrees to do the work is called the
Contractor while the other that pays for the work is
referred to as the Client.
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Prior to the construction, the Client employs engineers to
design the solution scheme and to prepare contract
documents comprising drawings, specifications, bills of
quantities and others.
These documents are then made available to contractors to
tender for the work.
The Contractor who wins the contract for the road works
and the Client then sign and go into a contract for the
execution of work.
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During work execution, the works must be monitored and
controlled to ensure that a high quality product is achieved
and within budgetary allocations and that the finished
product is indeed what was specified.
Monitoring or quality control is the joint responsibility of the
Contractor and the Client and it must be a continuous
effort throughout the construction process.
A contract and the accompanying conditions must
endeavour to address all problems to the extent humanely
possible so that the road works do not suffer any major
setbacks in quality and budget.
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Three important questions to pose and answer in order
to ensure that the construction works are executed to
the required quality are:
1. What are the items and areas to control?
2. What guides the control process?
3. What is to be done in the case of substandard
works?
These and many more are questions that border on real
situations that characterise contracts in road works.
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Quality Control/Assurance Procedures
Quality control/assurance are achieved in three
separate but related areas:
Materials control
Work control
Quantity control
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For each of the above control areas, the activities and
procedures required may comprise one or more of the
following:
• Checking that appropriate instructions are given and
any information required by the Contractor is supplied in
good time.
• Checking that materials and workmanship are
satisfactory and as specified, and where necessary,
issuing instructions for remedying faulty works or
replacing sub-standard materials.
• Checking lines, levels, layout, etc. of the works to ensure
conformity with the drawings.
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• Issuing further instructions, drawing and clarifications of
details as are necessary to ensure satisfactory
construction of the works.
• Measuring the volume of work done.
• Undertaking all tests required and keeping records
thereof.
• Reporting on all the foregoing to the
Engineer/Consultant in the form he requires.
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Reference for Quality Control
The conditions of contract define the terms under which
the work is to be undertaken, the relationship between
the Employer, the Engineer and the Contractor, the
powers of the Engineer and the terms of payment.
Plans are approved drawings and reproductions
pertaining to the work covered by the contract such as
the plan of a road, vertical and horizontal alignment,
sections of cut and fill and cross section of road.
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The specifications are the written instructions that
accompany and supplement the plans and form a
guide for the standards required in the execution of the
work.
These standard specifications, which are the results of
the experience and knowledge acquired over a period
of years include:
• All the general requirements
• The quality of workmanship and material required.
12 a) Materials Control
The materials to be used must be controlled in quality to
ensure that substandard materials are not used to
compromise the quality of the work being executed.
All index properties and strength characteristics as
required of the material by the specification must be
met.
This requires that representative samples are taken
occasionally from a batch and tested for quality. In
addition, any time a new supply is made, the necessary
quality tests must be undertaken on representative
samples.
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For example, soils for use in building the pavement
structure must be checked to see if they meet the
requirements in terms of;
Gradation
Atterberg Limits
Strength characteristics (measured by California
Bearing Ratio- CBR, etc.)
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Aggregates for Portland cement concrete works (such
as bridge and drains and culvert construction, retaining
walls), asphalt concrete formulation, surface dressings,
etc., must be checked to see that they conform to the
specification requirements for such works.
The properties to check will include;
o Shape
o Strength
o Abrasion resistance
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o Affinity for bitumen
o Durability
o Water absorption
In the case of bitumen, it must be ascertained that
the material is of the right grade or consistency
(hardness if solid or viscosity if liquefied).
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In asphalt overlay construction, material control will
involve
o Gradation of the aggregates for the mix
o Asphalt content of the mix
o Stability of the mix
o Density and volumetrics of the compacted overlay
Materials that fail to meet specification requirements
must not be allowed for use.
Where substandard materials have been used, the
contractor must be ordered to remove them and
replace with approved material meeting the quality
requirements contained in the specifications.
17 b) Work Control
The right sequence of the construction process must be
followed and the manner of construction must be such as
would achieve the desired quality of the end product.
In building the pavement layers, items to control include
Quality of materials for each layer
Thickness of layers
Compaction and densities
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In controlling compaction especially soils placed behind
bridge abutments or used for embankments where the
total thickness of soil to place is large, the total thickness
must be placed in smaller lifts (layers of materials) and
compacted.
Large lifts will not achieve adequate compaction and
will lead to further compaction by traffic and differential
settlement after the road has been opened to traffic.
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In surface dressings, work control must be exercised in
respect of
Primer type and application rates
Blinding of the primed surface
Tack coat application rate
Chippings application rate
Rolling of spread chippings
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In asphalt overlay construction, items to control include
Gradation of plant mix
Asphalt content
Production temperature of mix
Temperature of laid mat prior to compaction
Compaction characteristics
21 c) Quantity Control
Quality control requires that quantity is controlled in
accordance with design and drawings. Quantity items
to control include
Length
Width
Depth or thickness
Volumes
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Height
Angles
Elevations
Densities
No. of culverts, etc.
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Quality Assurance
To be sure that quality has not been compromised but
has been assured, it is necessary to conduct tests to
ascertain that indeed what was specified is what has
been produced.
This is done by conducting on-site observations of the
work in progress and of the finished road.
Areas of the construction that appear to be defective
must be tested to see whether indeed there is defect or
not.
In addition, random testing may be carried out for the
same purpose. Such tests may include density tests,
thickness tests, asphalt content test, gradation tests, etc.
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Recording
Good record keeping and documentation are essential to the
Resident Engineer’s ability to monitor and control the project
and to deal with substandard work.
Records should be kept of the following;
• Weather on site
• Mistakes made by the Contractor
• Defective construction and their location
• Results of quality tests
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Recording cont’d
• Field tests undertaken and results
• Items supplied for construction
• Sections of the roads for which certain items were
used
• Instructions given to the Contractor and verbal
agreements reached with him.
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Where possible, photographic documentation may be
employed to supplement the record keeping.
Each photograph must be dated and location, subject
and photographer noted.
Photographs must be kept in a central album to be used
in case of any litigation.
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END OF LESSON
thank you
