Road Engineering in Developing Countries

This latest edition of Road Engineering for Development provides a comprehensive coverage of the planning, design, construction and maintenance of roads in developing countries and emerging nations. It covers a wide range of technical and non-technical problems that may confront road engineers working in the developing world. This new edition focuses largely on rural roads (as opposed to urban or inter-urban roads) which provide important links from villages and farms to markets and offer the public access to health, education and other essential services.

Developing countries and emerging nations in tropical and sub-tropical regions often have challenging natural conditions and different institutional and financial environments very different from more industrialised countries. However, most textbooks on road engineering are based on experience in industrialised countries with temperate climates, or deal only with specific issues. Many aspects of the design and construction of roads in developing regions have stemmed from technologies and practices emanating from research and experience in Europe and the USA some 40 years ago. While these "standard‟ approaches might still be appropriate for much of the main trunk and strategic road network, they are frequently inappropriate and unsustainable for rural road network environments. Over the last decade there has been an increased research and application focus on rural roads and this publication has taken on board this work and integrated it such that a wide spectrum of readers can access current knowledge on good practice regarding sustainable road engineering in developing countries.