History

Institute's history is written through it's continuous strive to improve existing technology and to develop innovative methods in the area of road and transport engineering during last 55 years. All past accomplishments were not recorded properly and smaller one's are even forgotten. Only a few of the notable events are presented here chronologically as far as possible which shows Institute's steady progress and it's service to the Nation.

1950-59

Notable events during 1950-1959

Dr. Ernst Zipkis, an eminent road engineer from Switzerland,formarly incharge of the department of Road Research in the Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich,was appointed as director in May 1950.

Foundation stone of the Institute was laid by N.Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Minister of Transport, Government of India on 6 th September 1950 . 33 acre land was allotted for CRRI on 11km Delhi Mathura Road Dr.S.S Bhatnagar, Director, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) outlined the mandate of CRRI on that day.In 1951, CRRI started functioning in a temporary building in the proposed location with 15 technical and 22 other staff. Soil, Bitumen, Concrete and Construction Material were the areas of research.

Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the main building of the Institute on July 1952. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then education and culture minister addressed as vice president of CSIR.

Prof. S.R.Mehra was appointed as the first Indian Director of CRRI. He was Principal, Punjab Engineering College and Director of PWD Research Laboratory Karnal, Punjab .

New library building and Seminar hall constructed. R&D lab equipments were added. Test track was constructed in the adjacent "72 Bigha" plot.

A test method and test equipment were developed to assess the wear resistance of concrete and mortars. Findings were later became India Standards.

Research of subgrade compaction technology and design of flexible pavement was commended at India Roads Congress in 1958.

Technology to use low grade soft materials in road construction was developed. Contour map showing availability of different types of subgrade materials in India was prepared after extensive investigation.

Subgrade Moisture Condition survey was conducted at National level and maps showing subgrade saturation level in different parts of India was developed.

Pavement thickness and construction method for carrying 180 Tonne transport vehicles was developed for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).

Design and method of construction vertical sand drainage system was developed which helped to accelerate embankment settlement.

Technical supervision and quality control during the construction of Eastern Express Highway, Mumbai through marshy land and swamps was provided.

Bullock Cart (Animal drawn non-motorized transport) was the main freight transport vehicle in rural India in 1950s. Through flexible design of the wheel and axle to distribute load and contact area of the yoke, the pressure on animal shoulder was minimized and movement of the cart was made easier.

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Notable events during 1960-1969

A mobile laboratory was set up which became necessary for testing samples on site. It was equipped with latest testing facilities and proved to be very helpful to conduct field investigation in many projects.

Heavy duty test bed facility was created in the Institute for testing flexible and rigid pavement overlay strengths under varying load. Pavement reaction was obtainable due to maximum load of 40 tonne.

Brick stuffed concrete pavement design was developed. The design was economically cheaper without compromising on pavement strength.

Temperature difference between top and bottom surface of concrete slabs has an important role in design of rigid pavement blocks. Larger difference creates temperature induced stress in the pavement blocks. A study was conducted to capture temperature differential at different thickness at different locations in the country. Findings and recommendations on design thickness was adopted as guideline by the Indian Roads congress (IRC).

Burnt clay pozzolana was developed as a substitute material of Portland cement. It was found that upto 20% of cement may be replaced by pozzolana in cement concrete pavement construction. This project was taken up by the Institute when the country was facing acute cement shortage in 1960s.

Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP) and construction technology was developed and introduced by the Institute in the country. Such pavement reduces necessity of higher thickness and eliminates construction joints and suitable for heavy traffic flow over the pavement. Airfield pavement was also constructed using this technology. The findings and recommendations were later approved as IRC guidelines.

Institute developed Bonded Concrete Construction design method and introduced this in Airfield construction for the first time in India .

Pavement serviceability rating index was developed which correlates "comfort and convenience" of the road user and different distress parameters. Detail survey was conducted to collect data for this project.

A separate Bridge division was established in 1966 to meet the increasing requests to advise on Bridge superstructures and foundations. Another heavy test bed measuring 21 m by 12 m was constructed at the same year.

Projects on Stablisation of soft marine clay, Foundation treatment, Instrumentation and improvement, Construction of Roads and Buildings on reclaimed lands in Vishakhapattanam, Madras , Tuticorin, Mangalore, Goa , Kandla port area was under taken.

Dr. Bh. Subbaraju took over as next Director on 8 th August, 1968

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Notable events during 1970-1979

Consultancy work untaken on landslide mitigation after severe damage inflicted on Rishikesh Joshimath Road due to heavy rain.

Institute recommended several remedial measures in Simla after damage of roads and buildings there due to landslide.

Traffic and Transportation division came into lime light by taking up projects for providing comprehensive urban road improvement and traffic management plan for Delhi and Bangalore . Studies on traffic circulation, intersection design, parking, pedestrian facility in several other cities and towns were done.

Technology to quickly repair damaged concrete roads and runways were developed. By this method, repairs can be carried out within 8-12 hours using synthetic resins. IRC brought out a guidebook on this technique.

Test track experiment was carried at different climatic locations to determine suitable grades of binder. Five different grades of bitumen namely of 30/40, 40/50, 60/70 and 80/100 penetration was studied in Arid, Semi-arid, Humid, Sub-humid and Per-humid regions of the country.

Research of performance of mastic asphalt surfacing showed that it could protect pavement structure much better than any other conventional methods and had better sustainability. Public Works Departments throughout the country started laying mastic asphalt grafted with aggregate as antiskid surface on road intersections, flyovers, bus stops, and bridges

Technology to use tractors in road construction in rural areas was developed in association with Central Mechanical Research Institute (CMERI). Several vehicles/moving equipments such as Disc-harrow, Rotovator, Rotillor, Water tanker were developed which were found to be very useful and economic in rural areas.

Institute developed a few devices useful for concrete road construction. These were automatic joint sealing device, surface screed vibrator, joint making device etc.

Precast concrete block pavement technology for desert and sandy areas were developed. Construction of flexible or concrete pavement is extremely difficult in desert areas due to paucity of water and transport and laying properly designed precast blocks are a better alternative. Blocks are designed as hexagonal, flat top but hollow bottom with ribs, which are interconnected with sturdy dowels to form continuous surface.

Road unevenness measuring devices were developed at the Institute.

Institute adopted Karim Nagar District in Andhra Pradesh in "Adaptation of Districts" plan of CSIR. The adoption included assuming responsibility for road improvement, housing, water supply, sanitation etc. falling under civil engineering area.

Institute developed several techniques for monitoring deflections and strains and to apply test loads for performance evaluation of bridges. Inhouse testing facilities were also developed in this area.

Prof. C.G.Swaminathan took over as Director, CRRI in July 1977.

Comprehensive traffic and transportation study for Bombay Metropolitan Region was taken up by Traffic and Transportation division in 1978.

Road user cost study sponsored by the World Bank was also taken up by the Institute in 1979. The aim of the study was to collect comprehensive data on vehicle performance under different conditions for developing mathematical models which would predict fuel consumption of different class of vehicles. The data was used in developing models of Highway Design and Maintenance (HDM-3) of the World Bank. The study was completed in 1984.

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Notable events during 1980-1989

A new method of construction of rural roads in flood prone areas were developed in which precast concrete blocks were laid along the track ways interconnected by dowels over lean cement Fly Ash base. The track ways remained unaffected even under long submergence under flood water.

A study on road geometrics and surface characteristics of primary road network in India was taken up. The study involved inventorization of 31,700 km of length spread in 67 National Highways. Instrumented car was used to collect data roughness, horizontal curvature and vertical profile for every kilometer. Other data on pavement conditions, width, surface type were also inventorized.

Dr. M.P Dhir took over as new Director of the Institute in 1983

Improved version of Casagranade Piezometer to measure pore water pressure upto 0.27 kg/m 2 was developed.

Triaxial cell which is used for measuring swell pressure both in horizontal and vertical direction was improved.

Nineteen National Airports were assessed for strengthening their Runway pavements. The project was undertaken during 1987-89 at the instance of Airport Authority of India.

An axle load survey on various State and National Highways was carried out using mechanical weigh bridges. This study was aimed to assess overloading on different Highways in different regions of the country.

Testing load carrying capacity of bridges using different innovative methods were devised. Brahmputra bridge at Tezpur and RCC bridge on Jammu-Shrinagar National Highway were tested.

Formulation of code of practice for IRC was made from data collected from elastometric bearing testing of bridges.

Load carrying capacity of old Thane creek bridge was restored using external prestressing method.

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Notable events during 1990-1999

Prof. D.V.Singh became new director of the institute in 1990.

This decade started with Pavement Performance Study (PPS) sponsored by Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India. Pavement performance indicator data was collected periodically from 113 test sections which include both old and new sections selected on sample basis from State and National Highways. Later on several models were developed for different types of wearing course aiming to decide optimal maintenance and rehabilitation strategy.

Institute developed polymer modified bitumen (PMB) compositions and patented these. Technology to manufacture was transferred to few manufacturers in the country.

Deflection data collection using Benkelman beam was automated by using a device called deflection transducer whose signals are fed in to a microprocessor based system to produce processed information immediately after testing.

A portable devise known as impact tester was developed in the Institute for measuring field CBR and displaying the value digitally.

Pavement condition data collection using vehicle mounted high resolution camera was fabricated. The system produced distress conditions of the pavement (cracking, raveling, pothole) by using an image analysis software

Interlocking concrete block pavements were constructed mostly in hilly regions under expert supervision of the Institute. Such pavements require adequate foundation below and confinement support from the sides

Prof. A.K.Gupta took over as new director of the institute in 1996.

Concrete pavements started replacing old flexible pavements in different cities by now as both raw material and the technology of construction was available within the country. The Institute joined in a big way as design provider, quality controller and supervisor of concrete road construction.

How to use waste materials in construction was one of the interesting research area of the Institute in this decade. Institutes endeavor in popularizing use of fly ash, pond ash in embankment construction was well accepted in PWDs and some of the notable works were fly ash embankment for second Nizamuddin bridge, Okhla fly over, some stretch of Raichur road in Karnataka.

In bridge engineering, investigation on improved coating to minimize corrosion in RCC structure, study on behaviour of T shaped RCC structure and development of new techniques for performance monitoring of bridges produced guidelines and design manuals in the respective areas.

Prof P.K.Sikdar took the charge as new director of the Institute in 23 October 1998 .

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Notable events during 2000-05

Local Area Network (LAN) was commissioned. This was a high speed computer network with central and workgroup switches connecting 200 personal computers in the campus using 10/100 MBPs bandwidth TCP/IP protocol. Along with LAN, e-mail, and Internet service to users were commissioned. Antivirus software was also deployed. IT facilities were enhanced in the Institute. Scientists and other staff members were given computers, printers, scanners.

GIS lab was commissioned and a separate group was created to work exclusively on GIS applications.

Modernization plan of R&D labs were taken up and many latest and state of art equipments were procured and made operational.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) was launched by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee. Objective of the programme was to provide all weather motorable road connectivity to all rural habitats of more than 500 population by the year 2007. Institute conducted awerness training programme in different parts of the country and coordinated with the Ministry of Rural Development, state PWDs, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s and Regional Engineering College (REC)s across the country. Institute initiated preparation of base documents, methodology in consultation with other organizations and prepared design manuals, and software to determine optimal connectivity. Implementation part was later transferred to state PWDs.

Institute took a leading role in training and dissemination of highway development and management practices through HDM-4 software which was coded by the University of Birmingham UK and was formulated by several civil engineering research institutes in the world. The software can be effectively used to simulate future road conditions subject to different maintenance practices and improvement prpopsals and also derives optimum economic solution for maintenance of gravel, bituminous and rigid pavements.

Research of bitumen continued. New generation high performance bitumen and other types of mix designs were developed and proposed to industry.

A National project on vehicle fuel policy was completed in a record time and recommendations given to Government of India through CSIR.

Institute received ISO 9001: 1994 QMS licence for the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in February 28, 2004 . ISO certification helped Institute of reorganize internal work flow and management.

CRRI scientists celebrated CSIR diamond Jubilee with year long programme including Workshops, Round Table, Open forum, Competitions.