Surat has becomes India’s first city to have a ‘steel road’ which is entirely made up of processed steel slag.
The one-kilometer-long road, which has six lanes, was designed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), with assistance from the Ministry of Steel, the Policy Commission, and the NITI Aayog.
According to CSIR, the road is more durable than conventional roads in the country and can withstand damage that monsoon season tends to have.
This particular stretch, located in Surat’s Hazira Industrial Area, has been opened to traffic on a trial basis. This road is made of steel slag, a waste material from steel industries, and has a thickness that is 30% less than conventional roads.
While the durability of the steel road is the primary focus, it is reported that at least 20 loaded trucks pass through this stretch each day, it can also be a game changer in up-cycling steel slag that would otherwise end up in landfills. The disposal of metallurgical and metal processing waste in landfills is particularly hazardous to the environment.
Steel industries produce millions of tonnes of steel slag, which has so far had no alternative use. If this experiment proves to be a success, more roads across the country may be treated in the same way.