Evolving Feasible Transportation Route from Cement Plant to the Proposed Mines: A Case Study

It is a mandatory requirement for any envisaged roadway capacity augmentation connecting the facilities like mining plant to obtain environmental clearance from the concerned authority coupled with the assessment of its impact on the traffic plying on the adjoining road network. In addition to the above, the best route to the cement plant has been examined and proposed in this study. In this context, the traffic study was carried out by considering the proposed mining plant at Nandgaon and Ekodi villages as well as exploring the need (if any) for capacity augmentation of the connecting roads from plant to mines. Based on the above assessment, the best route for transportation between the proposed mining area and the cement plant has been suggested as the plant will handle a maximum capacity of 2.0 Million Tonne per Annum (MTPA) of goods movement in the foreseeable future. To address the above, the relevant traffic surveys were conducted on the study corridor to understand the need for the roadway capacity augmentation (if any) which comprised of three routes having varying lengths. Keeping in view the requirement of providing safe commuting passage for various types of vulnerable road users (VRUs) like motorised two wheelers as well as bicyclists and pedestrians, it is recommended to provide paved shoulders of 1.5 m wide plus 1.0 m earthen shoulder on two lane bidirectional roads. The existing four lane divided road having two staggered intersections of Gadchandur and Manikgarh needs immediate geometric improvement which would help in achieving smoother radii for turning traffic considering the proportion of multi axle trucks would increase after the opening of the proposed mines. Further, it was recommended towards implementation of strict enforcement in terms of prohibition of on street parking and removal of encroachments. It was also recommended to supplement with the immediate repair and rehabilitation measures of the existing road from Gadchandur to Nandgaon and Ekodi in the form of pothole repair and overlay. Further, the ill designed roundabout at Manikgarh intersection was not designed conforming to IRC:65 (2017) and hence it was necessary to redesign the roundabout conforming to standards and provide adequate diameter of around 15 m as well as improve the staggered intersections coupled with the posting of necessary road signs markings and street lighting. Overall, it is inferred that Gadchandur to ACL via the proposed road from State Highway to ACL joining behind ACL plant is the best route amongst three routes due to its advantages like shortest distance, devoid of any interaction with local traffic and environment friendly. Incidentally, the proposed improvements were implemented on the ground recently by M/s. ACL at their own cost after the approval by Environmental Impact Assessment committee.