The deficiencies in design, implementation, and quality assurance resulted in the collapse of reinforced earth (RE) walls that were constructed as part of the national highway (NH) 66 in Kerala, an investigation has concluded.
The four-member expert panel appointed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) concluded that “there was a noticeable lack of consistent monitoring, third-party quality checks, and post-construction verification such as confirmatory boreholes, pull-out testing of reinforcements, and performance audits, as mandated in standard codes. This has resulted in premature failures, subsidence, and visible distress in multiple RE wall segments and cut slopes across the alignment.”
Collapsed and cracked NH 66 stretches in Kerala built in violation of Union Ministry specifications, finds inquiry report
The RE walls had caved in, and cracks appeared in many stretches of the road, giving rise to safety concerns and traffic snarls. Kerala witnessed widespread public protests following the damage caused to the NH.
The report concluded that the RE walls “have either been constructed or are currently under construction without implementing ground improvement measures or partial replacement of the subsoil with reinforced fill or partial replacement of the subsoil with reinforced fill and geosynthetic reinforcement as basal reinforcement. In many locations, the groundwater table is at ground level,” according to the report submitted to NHAI a few days ago.
