PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT Parliament, 15 March 2011 CSIR RESPONSES Dr Phil Paige-Green CSIR Built Environment

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT

Parliament, 15 March 2011

CSIR RESPONSES

Dr Phil Paige-GreenCSIR Built Environment

1. THE MANDATE OF THE CSIR

© CSIR 2010 Slide #

The objects of the CSIR are, through directed and particularly multidisciplinary research and technological innovation, to foster, in the national interest and in fields which in its opinion should receive preference, industrial

and scientific development, either by itself or in co-operation with principals from the private or public

sectors, and thereby to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the people of the Republic, and to

perform any other functions that may be assigned to the CSIR by or under this Act.”

(Scientific Research Council Act 46 of 1988,

amended by Act 71 of 1990)

1. THE MANDATE OF THE CSIR


Our job is to identify, usually together with steering committees, problem areas in the road industry and carry out research to provide solutions

2. THE ACCREDITATION PROCESS


• CSIR does not do any accreditation

• This is done by the Agrément Board for selected/specified products, usually in response to external requests.

• CSIR often assists with technical input

• The SA Bureau of Standards develops standards for certain operations, many of which are based on research findings from the CSIR.

• CSIR is usually not directly involved in their implementation, only in their preparation.

3. HOW THE CSIR RELATES TO ADHERENCE TO STANDARDS FOR ROAD MAINTENANCE AND VALUE FOR MONEY


• Adherence of standards for road maintenance is not within the mandate of the CSIR

• We are not directly involved in any routine operational issues. These operations are carried out by Road Authorities, most of whom with which CSIR only has informal relationships.

• We assist with specific problems of a non-routine type where appropriate on a contract research or an independent specialist consultant basis.



• Prior to the 1990s, nearly all provinces had Pavement Management Systems (PMSs) to assist with planning preventative maintenance

• Over the past few years all authorities (except SANRAL) appear to have abandoned their PMS's (they are time-consuming, can be relatively costly to keep updated and functional and require an appropriate skills base)

• The accompanying programmed preventative maintenance that was based on scientific decision making use of the up-to-date and appropriate PMS data is no longer the norm.

• This has resulted in a severe reduction in preventative maintenance leading to cracking of the bituminous surfacings and ultimately to the formation of potholes.



• The CSIR was, in the past (pre 1987), closely involved with the early development and installation of various Pavement Management Systems (PMS) in South and southern Africa.

• Some of these included the relevant operational manuals.

• Their implementation and operation then became a routine consultancy exercise

• Currently we are looking at simple, cheap and quick methods for rural access roads and roads in small municipal areas

• This should perhaps be adapted for a larger road network (including more rural and connector roads).



• CSIR continues to improve and implementing the Bridge Management System (BMS) (both locally and internationally)

• CSIR is also currently developing a slope management system (SMS) for assessing the stability of road cuttings for strategic purposes

• The aim is to ensure that there is always access to the coastal ports following extreme climatic events

• We do not, however, routinely operate or provide data for any management systems



• The CSIR has over the past 20 or 30 years also developed general guideline and synthesis documents under contract to various road authorities in South Africa and internationally that include references to maintenance and even methods where appropriate.

• These documents have been made available through the traditional and appropriate communication channels

• Development and dissemination of the pothole guidelines in December 2010 have highlighted the need for the ongoing preventative maintenance of roads in South Africa.


• As is the case with such documents, attempts to disseminate the information have been made, probably more successfully than many similar documents.

• However, despite the hype and fan-fare at and after the launch of the guideline documents, response to the training workshops being arranged by the South African Road Federation (SARF) and presented by the CSIR project team has been limited.

• Of the original 12 countrywide workshops planned for February and March 2011, 10 had to be postponed due to insufficient interest from potential delegates.

• Since the announcement of S'HAMBA SONKE by the Minister on the 15th February, however, interest seems to have picked up and the numbers of registrations appear to be improving.



• The CSIR (together with SARF in most cases) have now held 3 workshops (130 delegates so far), with another 13 planned in the next 3 months (some specifically arranged for single road authorities)

• These are aimed at NQF level 5 and higher. We feel that this is as far as our mandate extends in this regard.

• The Asphalt Academy is preparing training courses for the actual repair of potholes at NQF levels below 5, in which we are likely to have some basic input, but will not be involved directly with the on site training.



• In terms of value for money, CSIR carries out annual independent audits for some road authorities to check whether they had received value for money for work procured

• All research findings are assessed in terms of cost-effectiveness, technical quality and value for money



• Other specific issues are research into aspects such as the use of Hot-mix asphalt (HMA) versus Cold-mix asphalt (CMA) for road repairs

• In general, the latter are more appropriate for pothole patching – easier to work and less to go wrong

•Need to be accredited (Agrément).



Another increasing problem is the proliferation of proprietary chemical stabilizers

Email received the other day Title: Potholes and other problems with present road construction specifications

Message: “Would it not pay the country AND save the country Millions to utilize a product like ******** for road stabilization ?

This shows absolute no knowledge of road design and maintenance

Increasing marketing effort by suppliers – wonderful claims – need to be carefully assessed in terms of usefulness and cost-effectiveness (Agrément accreditation)



Road authority staff are currently not capable of assessing cost-effectiveness

They are easily “bull-dozed” into using them by marketers

Need proper guidelines for their testing and use

Some research currently in progress



Currently also carrying out research into appropriate bituminous surfacings for low volume roads

More cost effective options are being developed and assessed – results in much lower construction costs

Will necessarily be thinner and therefore will require regular maintenance or they will be lost prematurely

IN SUMMARY


CSIR carries out research as per the CSIR mandate

Type and extent depends on available funding

Involves development, initial implementation and training

Not routine operation

Documents

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT Parliament, 15 March 2011 CSIR RESPONSES Dr Phil Paige-Green CSIR Built Environment