İrfan COŞKUN
Civil Engineer, M.Sc. / Mediterranean Region Manager
Çimko Çimento ve Beton San. Tic. A.Ş.
There are great impacts of transportation easiness on reconstruction for a country. Compared to developed countries, while the transportation networks in our country remain insufficient and beside this situation; the traffic jam on roads are increasing day by day. With the increased traffic jam, the mission of road coverings become critical.
It’s known that; every year, approximately 20 million ton oil is importing and the dependencies of import can be seen with the rate of % 95 in Turkey. Petroleum products have been used on the road network of approximately 63 thousand kilometers in our country which is the largest in Europe and the second largest exporter in the world with an annual production of 10 million tons of cement. Where as, millions of tons of cement, aggregates and sand which our country has that can be considered as ‘’concrete roads’’. The concrete roads have been used approximately for 100 years in America and 75 years in Europe. If the concrete road technology is utilized sufficient, it will provide important advantages to the country economy especially in order to be able to supply the raw material from the domestic capital. It will save users a lot of time because of its long life and most importantly, if it is used effectively in our country, it will make a significant contribution in order to decrease the current deficit. For this reason, concrete roads should be used as an alternative option in our agenda.
In the construction of highways, according to the circumstances and conditions the most favorable and efficient way should be preferred for our countury. In this direction, the roads in areas where heavy vehicle traffic is intensive and where maintenance and repair frequently, have to be done certainly an appropriate starting point for concrete roads.
Concrete road is a type of high-quality pavement which is used in urban roads and medium-heavy traffic density. The role of the concrete as road pavement, to transmit the base of the heavy single loads coming from the traffic and to prevent the base from deforming in the meantime.
Concrete roads produced with domestic resources are easily applicable in almost all climatic conditions and have a much longer technical life than the asphalt. In addition, concrete roads have advantages such as short stopping distance, environmental friendliness, fuel savings and long night visibility. We will continue to strive for the rapid use of concrete roads in our developing country as it is in other developed countries.
