ABSTRACT
Potholes are the most common and serious issue in the road transportation sector to be taken care of. The death toll was nearly 3,500 for the last year due to pothole related accidents in the country and the situation is increasingly alarming. The potholes also affect the transportation sector badly by slowing down the traffic and reducing the road capacity. Therefore, there has been an overwhelming requirement for pothole prevention and treatment since the existing conventional methods are found ineffective. The Automated Pothole Sealer (APS) is the solution proposed for the effective treatment and fruitful prevention of the potholes. The whole project aimed in choosing an appropriate cold bitumen mix and an automated machinery, will be a productive solution to the problems prevailing in the pothole repair. The proposal consists of developing an automated machinery, installed in a small vehicle, that can easily clean and dry the potholes and lay and compact the cold bitumen mix. The cold bitumen mix is preferred over the conventional hot mix, so that they can be carried for a relatively longer period and ready to use at any instant irrespective of weather conditions. The system reduces the time phase for repair works and thus avoid traffic blocks, adding to the sustainability of road transportation, with reduced cost (labor and machinery in a long-term consideration), improved efficiency and design period (life span).
