Effectiveness of applied routine maintenance intervention in management of road performance: A case of Wakiso District local government

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of applied road routine maintenance in management of road performance with emphasis on Wakiso district. The major objectives involved studying the road infrastructure performance, evaluating effectiveness of applied routine maintenance intervention and development of a strategy for maintenance implementation. The study was guided by the use of questionnaires and interview guides distributed to respondents to express their views on the issues being studied. Local governments in Uganda receive funds from Central Government through Uganda Road Fund for road maintenance. The principle purpose of maintaining roads is to provide continuous acceptable conditions for undisrupted, safe and economic travel. Roads are expensive to construct, therefore well planned and timely maintenance interventions are required. For the last 15 years, district and urban roads maintenance has been carried out through contracting small scale labour based contractors. It was revealed that lack of training, absence of current road condition assessment data and unreliable road maintenance equipment have contributed to ineffective routine road maintenance in the district. An improved strategy for routine maintenance has been developed whereby for effective routine road maintenance to be achieved, training for both staff and labour gangs should be emphasised every three years for a sustainable skills development and hence better outputs. In addition to that, selection of roads for routine maintenance should be based on vehicles per day and road condition for a particular road. When this is adhered to, value for money for routine road maintenance shall be achieved and hence better management of road performance.