With over 6.6 million kilometers of roadway across the country, India boasts the largest road network in the world. As those roadways require ongoing repair and maintenance, coupled with monumental growth attributed to new construction, India’s departments of transportation, contractors, and engineers now more than ever are looking for solutions that can help solve the challenges unique to their country.  

Notably, pavement distress has become a primary concern as cracking, rutting, and raveling of both existing and new roadways present performance challenges. Subjected to heavy and high traffic loads alongside extremes in weather conditions, there is a strong need for asphalt additives that can help improve performance while also potentially lowering costs and improving worker safety.  

Based in Mumbai, Bitpath provides the Indian paving industry with access to a unique portfolio of asphalt additives designed to improve bitumen performance. Bitpath helps solve paving challenges by providing access to innovative, cost-effective products that enhance bitumen performance. These solutions are also designed to increase recycled material use, lower costs, and address sustainability concerns. 

Products offered by Bitpath for the Indian subcontinent market include:  

With nearly 10 years of dedicated operations in India, the Bitpath team has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to and understanding of the Indian paving and bitumen industry. This is attributed, in part, to continued partnerships with local agencies and universities for both laboratory testing and field trials that explore the efficacy of Bitpath’s products for Indian roads developed with Indian bitumen. Bitpath’s extensive network of regional technical experts includes:

• CSIR, Delhi
• IIT Bombay, Mumbai
• IIT Madras, Chennai
• IIT Roorkee, Roorkee
• IIT Benaras, Varanasi

Highways across India have used ReLIXER as their asphalt rejuvenator of choice for 30 to 60% RAP mixes since the 2018-2019 paving season. PGXpand has also been used in PMBs for Indian highways including State Highway SJH-2 and Rajahmundry-Chennai Highway NH-216A in order to deliver rutting resistance. PGXpand has also been applied to ready-to-use asphalt mixes for pothole repair patch mixes that can be applied even in rainy conditions.

Field trials, demonstrations, research, and implementation projects using Bitpath’s products are regularly featured in premier trade publications. These articles detail the use cases facing the Indian roadway industry and how additives like PGXpand and ReLIXER can help solve for bitumen performance issues.  

PGXpand was used in a roadway trial encompassing a two lane-kilometer length of 40 mm BC overlay on the Beawar Pali Pindwara Tollway, a high-density freight corridor in Rajasthan, India. The full story was covered by World Highways and details the highway trial and key performance specifications that had to be achieved.  

The Agra-Gwalior Highway, which connects the northernmost and southernmost tips of India, also underwent a trial conducted by PATH India and the National Highway Authority of India. A PMB mix was formulated using VG30 grade bitumen and 1.5% PGXpand. The article, featured in AsphaltPro, explores how PGXpand was chosen to reduce rutting and address long-term durability for the roadway surface.  

RAP use is also being widely explored in India, with departments of transportation considering new ways to incorporate the recycled material effectively in mixes. The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay hosted Sripath Technologies President Krishna Srinivasan as a presenter for a workshop titled “Recycling Techniques for Construction of Sustainable Pavements.” Included in the presentation were discussions around how ReLIXER, an effective asphalt rejuvenator, has been used in Indian roadways.