INVESTIGATION INTO THE MAJOR CAUSES OF PAVEMENT FAILURE IN IFITE ROAD

Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the major causes of pavement failure in Ifite Road. Foursamples of soils within the failed section of the pavement designated as A, B, C and D weresubjected to geotechnical testing. The samples were collected along Miracle Junction, YahooJunction, Commissioner Quarters and First Market respectively. The geotechnical test that wasperformed on the samples are sieve analysis test, compaction and CBR test. Results obtainedfrom sieve analysis test classified the samples as A-2 for samples A, C, D and A-4 for B,according to AASHTO Soil Classification System. The maximum dry unit weight of the sampleswere 16.90kN/m3 , 18.87kN/m3 , 17.30kN/m3 and 15.84kN/m3 , the optimum moisture content ofthe samples were 12.08%, 12.53%, 11.17% and 14.21% respectively. The soaked CBR of thesamples are for samples A, B, C, D respectively. The samples failed to meet the requirementsgiven by Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, (1997) for use as sub-grade material. Thestudy therefore concluded that poor geotechnical properties of the foundation soil is the majorcause of failure along Ifite-Unizik Road Awka Anambra State, Nigeria.Other factors like poor drainage, poor construction and poor maintenance also contributedpavement failure along the road.vi