For sustainable infrastructure, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member (S&T) at NITI Aayog, inaugurated India’s first National Highway Steel Slag Road section on NH-66 Mumbai-Goa National Highway. Developed by CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), the Steel Slag Road Technology is turning steel industry waste into a valuable resource, contributing to the construction of robust and eco-friendly national highways in India.
JSW Steel, guided by CSIR-CRRI’s technological expertise, has successfully constructed a 1 km long four-lane steel slag road section on the Indapur-Panvel Section of NH-66 Mumbai-Goa. This achievement involved converting around 80,000 tons of CONARC Steel slag into processed steel slag aggregates at JSW Steel’s Dolvi, Raigad plant. These processed steel slag aggregates exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to natural aggregates, making them a preferred choice for all layers of the road instead of natural aggregates.
Dr. Manoranjan Parida, Director of CSIR-CRRI, highlighted that CSIR-CRRI, through a sponsored research project of the Ministry of Steel, is developing national guidelines for the utilization of processed steel slag in steel slag road construction. Collaborating with various steel industries, CSIR-CRRI has successfully implemented steel slag in road construction projects in Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Arunachal Pradesh.
This initiative signifies a paradigm shift in the construction of national highways, demonstrating the potential to transform industrial waste into sustainable and economically viable solutions for the nation’s infrastructure needs.