Past Directors

Dr. E. Zipkes (1950 - 54)

Dr. E. Zipkes was first the director of the Institute and one of the founder member of the Institute who created the building infrastructure and basic laboratories and made the laboratory functional.

Prof. S.R. Mehra (1955 - 68)

Prof. Mehra, who was a man of vision led CRRI during its formative years and brought it to a position of recognition and laid foundations for its future advancement. He had ability to pick right person for the right job. He was an able administrator who knew how to inspire others. He mooted the idea of highway research board for the country. He helped to establish Central Assessment Committee of the Govt. of India for promotion of New Road Technologies. He introduced refresher and training courses for different levels of engineers in the beginning of 60s when very little such facilities were available in the country. He advocated for improved machinery for construction of roads, quality control and personnel trained in new technologies.

Dr. Bh. Subbaraju (1968 - 77)

Dr. B.H.Subbaraju gave importance in carrying out field research programme. During his tenure, Flexible Pavement Performance study, Concrete Pavement Temperature Differential Study, Study on the Design of Cement Concrete Pavement, Study on Bituminous Overlays on Cement Concrete Pavement, Study on Bonded Concrete Overlays for Concrete Pavement were taken up. Heavy test bed, 40 tonnes semi-mobile loading frame, mobile laboratory van were the new facilities added by him. He organised the Institute's quality control inputs to concrete airfield construction projects in the mid 60s. The concrete road which was

constructed in 1961-62 inside Institute campus under his direct supervision, stands even today as a proof of his engineering acumen and quality monitoring. Appraisal of rural roads constructed under crash scheme for rural employment and study of the problem of state public works departments in the north eastern region was done under his supervision.

Prof. C.G. Swaminathan (1977 - 83)

Prof. C.G. Swaminathan, a specialist in flexible pavement and bitumen materials made significant effort to explain the importance of mix design and construction of bituminous pavement in the country. During his time large size and prestigious studies including "Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Study for Bombay Metropolitan Region" , "Road User Cost Study in India" was completed and he played a very active role in organizing, deployment of resources and monitoring of progress in these studies.

Dr. M.P. Dhir (1983 - 89)

Dr. Dhir was a specialist in evaluating pavement surface characteristics and material characterisation for which he improved and improvised many equipments for better monitoring of surface characteristics and data collection. During his tenure, study on the surface characteristic and geometry of the national highway network, study on axle load, study on lateral placement of vehicles, study on traffic simulation modeling, study on Road Technology - Future Needs were completed. Under his guidance, structural evaluation of runway pavements of National Airport s were completed.

Prof. D.V. Singh (1992 - 96)

Prof. D.V. Singh came from academic environment and he stressed on close bonding with world's advanced research Institutes on road and environment. He forged strong connections with International Road Federation (IRF), World Road Association (PIARC), US Strategic Highways Research Program (SHRP), US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), and initiated dialogue with many others, including the World Bank. Through his initiative, India became the founder member of PIARC's World Information Network (WIN), and CRRI became the first WIN Node in India. He initiated a number of management development activities in the Institute.

He converted Institute's Computer Centre into "Computer and Road Informatics Centre (CRIC)". He crusaded for the creation of a National Accelerated Load Testing Facility for expeditious testing of the specifications, materials / mixes and designs for their adequacy.

Prof. A.K. Gupta (1996 - 97)

Prof. A.K. Gupta was a distinguished academic served the Institute for a short period. He instituted research on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in CRRI and intensified interactions with the World Bank. Prof. Gupta formulated CRRI VISION 2000: AN ACTION PLAN document. He was planning for initiating research in newer areas, but unfortunately, he passed away in November 1997.

Prof. P.K. Sikdar (1998 - 2004)

Prof. P.K.Sikdar also came from academic institution and started injecting research mindset among the scientists of the Institute. He was a hole timer in the true sense and experimented by reorganising the setup to achieve maximum output. During his tenure Institute witnessed maximum external cash flow year after year and research and conference papers. He prepared base documents on Pardhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) - a project to connect all rural habitats with highways through all weather road. Many significant and important projects such as Golden Quadrilateral Project, Training and dissemination of HDM-4, Delhi Metro Network (DPR), Update of Road User Cost Study, Landslide and Natural Disaster Mitigation were completed during his time. Institute's contribution in Fly Ash Mission, came to it's peak. Modernization of R&D labs with latest state of art equipments and better utilization of Computer Center by introducing Local Area Network, Intranet, Website, GIS Laboratory are some of his notable achievements.

Dr. P.K. Nanda ( 2004-2007 )

Dr. P.K. Nanda, specialized in Pavement Design, Materials and Evaluation. He has coordinated the study on Axle Load Spectrum for 32,000 km of National Highways and determination of Vehicle Damage Factors (VDF). He was associated with formulation of guidelines for functional improvements of roads and development of maintenance based Riding Quality Models. He was also associated with Long Term Pavement Performance Study for developing Pavement Deterioration Models. He has done substantial work in formulating Pavement Management System using HDM-4. He was also associated with studies on Master Plan for Improvement of Delhi Roads.
His research area include Polishing characteristics of road aggregates, Functional evaluation using Bump Integrator, µ-meter and Skid-trailer, Structural evaluation of pavement using FWD, La-Croix Deflectograph, Dynamic Plate Load Testing Equipment, Pre-Cast Block Pavement System for Sandy Terrains, Interconnected Block Pavement System, Design and Improvement of Haul Roads, Improved design of Airfield Pavements etc.

Back