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Design and Construction of Road Embankments in Swampy Area—A Case

Study of Uganda in East Africa

Chapter · August 2021

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-2260-1_23

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 Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference 2020
December 17-19, 2020, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam Chapter

Design and Construction of Road Embankments in

Swampy Area- A Case Study of Uganda in East Africa

Avik Kumar Mandal1, Sailesh S2 and Pradyot Biswas3

1
Chief General Manager, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
[email protected]
2
Associate General Manager, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
[email protected]
3
Executive Director, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
[email protected]

Abstract. Improving the road connectivity to different villages/towns is im-

portant for progress of the economy of a country. Uganda is a country in East
Africa which has many swamps and wet lands. These wet lands and swamps
have either stagnant or flowing water. At many places the roads have to pass
through these swamps and wetlands. Bridges can be constructed across the
swamps and wetlands. The cost of bridges being high, embankment is con-
structed with provision of culverts for flow of water. This paper discusses about
the investigation, design and construction of road embankment which pass
through swamps in some locations in Uganda. The detailed geotechnical inves-
tigations comprising of field and laboratory works were carried out as per the
British Standards to know the depth and engineering properties of the swampy
area along the project road. The data obtained from the investigation was re-
viewed and interpreted to ascertain the engineering nature of subsurface stratifi-
cation in the swamps. This investigation data was used for carrying out bearing
capacity, slope stability and settlement analysis of the road embankments as per
its geometry. Based on the results of detailed analysis of the road embankment,
the required ground treatment for the foundation of road embankment in
swampy area was proposed. The required depth of top weak compressible soil
layer as found from investigation and analysis in swampy area was replaced
with locally available durable rocky material at the foundation base level of the
embankment to provide its adequate safety against stability and occurrence of
excessive post construction settlement. This paper also presents the details of
construction methodology including the quality control measures adopted for
construction of road embankments in swamps which have permanent water
along the project roads in Uganda.

Keywords: Swamps and Wet Lands, Geotechnical Investigations, Bearing Ca-

pacity and Slope Stability Analysis, Settlement Analysis, Ground Treatment,
Replacement of Soft Foundation Soil by Rocky Material.

1 Introduction

New Road constructions are required to provide new connectivity and / or to improve
the connectivity between two places in a country. Development of roads helps in in-
creasing the socio economic activity between two places. In Uganda the topography is

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Avik Kumar Mandal, Sailesh S and Pradyot Biswas

mostly rolling, so the low-lying areas are more or less water logged and result in the
formation of permanent swamps. The roads pass through these swamps. Swamps
contain permanent standing water and soft soils below the ground level. Designing
and construction of embankment is quite challenging work in these swamps and re-
quire various important considerations. This paper describes the engineering methods
as adopted in building the road embankment of following road projects in Uganda.
1. Buhimba- Nalweyo- Bulamagi -Igayaza- Kakumiro Road Project
2. Ishaka – Kagamba Road Project
Initially, the detailed design procedure actually adopted for road embankment sections
which traverse through some swamp stretches along the project corridor namely
Buhimba- Nalweyo- Bulamagi - Igayaza- Kakumi in the country of Uganda, East
Africa is explained in this paper. Later part of the paper deals with the detailed con-
struction methodology of road embankment running through multiple swamp areas
which was followed in other project namely Ishaka - Kagamba situated in different
part of Uganda.

2 Geotechnical Investigation and Subsurface Stratifications

Geotechnical investigations were carried out in swamp locations by following the

guidelines given in “British Standard” namely BS 5930-2015 and BS 1377-1990. The
swamps have permanent water logging, so working platforms with wooden planks
were built on the soft ground of swamp. The top of platform was above the water
level of the swamps and boring rig was placed above the working platform. The “Pho-
tograph 1" shows the field geotechnical investigation works in progress in swamp.
In Buhimba Kakumiro project, 17 numbers of boreholes were conducted in swamp
locations and 22 numbers of boreholes were conducted in culvert locations i.e. total
39 numbers of boreholes were conducted along the said project road. The boreholes
were progressed using 3 nos. mechanized portable “Rotary Drilling Rigs”. For arrest-
ing the cave-in of the borehole, the mud slurry was used to keep the borehole wall
stable during boring operation. In the boreholes, the field probing test namely “Stand-
ard Penetration Test (SPT)” and collection of undisturbed samples (UDS) were done
alternatively at every 1.00 m intervals along the depth of borehole. In the locations
where UDS was not recovered successfully, the collection of UDS was replaced with
conducting the SPT. The various types of collected soil samples consisted of dis-
turbed samples (DS) through “SPT” using thick walled “Split Spoon Samplers” and
undisturbed samples (UDS) using thin-walled “Shelby Tubes sampler”. The field
observations included visual classification of explored stratifications of soil types,
measurement of groundwater table (GWT). All the field investigation works were
performed in accordance with the latest applicable BS codes.
The hand held “Light Weight Dynamic Cone Penetration Test (DCPT)” following
the “German Guidelines” namely “DIN 4094” was conducted at every swamp loca-
tion. It was conducted to acquire additional information on the nature of the subsur-
face soils and to determine the design equivalent field “SPT (N)” i.e. “NSPT” values.

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Fig.1. Geotechnical Investigation in Swamp

Following expression was used to evaluate the equivalent value of “NSPT” value
corresponding to field recorded DCPT results.
NSPT = 0.700 * NT13
where, “NT13” is the number of blows required to drive the rods through 100 mm.
The light weight equipment consisted of a hammer of 10 kg and a drive head of 5cm2
that was manually driven through a height of fall of 500 mm. The number of blows
required to drive the hammer through a distance of 100 mm was determined and rec-
orded. In addition, the test was used to provide an indication of the density and con-
sistency of the different soft cohesive soil layers encountered.
The laboratory-testing program consisted of determination of soil index and shear
strength properties as well as the consolidation settlement characteristics. The guide-
lines given in various parts of BS 1377-1990 were followed during laboratory testing
of the different types of soil samples. The index tests were performed to determine the
soil natural i.e. in-situ moisture content, unit weight, specific gravity, gradation char-
acteristics (gravel, sand and fines content i.e. the silt & clay fractions) and consistency
limits (i.e. Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, Plasticity index and Linear Shrinkage). The
strength tests were performed to determine the shear parameters (cohesion, angle of
internal friction) of soil; the consolidation tests were performed to find out the consol-
idation properties (pre-consolidation pressure, initial void ratio, compression &
recompression index, coefficient of volume compressibility and vertical consolida-
tion). The index tests were performed on disturbed split-spoon soil samples (DS)
and/or undisturbed samples (UDS), except the natural moisture content (NMC) and
dry density tests, which were performed only on the undisturbed soil samples (UDS).
The shear strength tests consisted of “Direct Shear Box Test (DST)” and the “Tri-

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Avik Kumar Mandal, Sailesh S and Pradyot Biswas

axial Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) Tests”. The consolidation characteristics tests

were performed on a one-dimensional consolidometer. The shear strength and consol-
idation tests were performed on undisturbed soil samples (UDS). The index and shear
strength tests were performed on both cohesive and cohesion less soil samples. The
consolidation tests were performed on predominantly cohesive soil samples.

2.1 Location of Ground Water Table (GWT)

The “Ground Water Table (GWT)” as observed in the various explored boreholes was
varying from 0.80 m to 1.50 m above the existing ground level (EGL) i.e. bed level of
identified swampy area. For designing the embankments, the critical condition corre-
sponding to the highest position of water level especially during and immediately
after rainy season was considered at the HFL of the respective project area.

2.2 Subsurface Stratifications

Geotechnical data obtained from the boreholes was used for stratification of subsoil at
swampy area. The site-specific sub-surface conditions of the swampy area along the
project corridor are given below.
i. Very Soft to Soft Silty Clay/Sandy Clay of variable thickness i.e. 0.00 m to
2.00 m,
ii. Loose to Medium Dense Clayey Silty Sand of thickness varying from 0.50 m
to 4.50 m,
iii. Medium Stiff to Hard Sandy Clay of thickness varying from 1.50 m to 5.50 m,
iv. Dense to Very Dense Silty Sand/Clayey Silty Sand of thickness varying from
1.50 m to 5.00 m,
v. Bed Rock.
In swamp locations, the top layer encountered was either very soft to soft silty
clay/sandy clay or loose clayey sand. This layer was underlained by “Medium Stiff to
Hard Sandy Clay”. This layer is followed by dense to very dense silty sand/clayey
silty sand which was underlained by the bed rock. The engineering properties of sub-
soil as explored in one of the typical swamp location along the proposed road are
tabulated below.
Table 1. Range of Engineering Properties of Subsoil
Swamp @ 16+093 Km based on nine (9 nos.) boreholes
Unit Angle of
Depth
Weight Cohesion Internal Void
below SPT LL/PI NMC Pc
i.e. i.e. c Friction Ratio Cc
GL (N) (%) (%) (t/m2)
b (ton/m2) i.e.  i.e. e0
( m)
(gm/cc) (degree)
Layer No. I: Very Soft to Soft Silty Clay/Sandy Clay
(47.20- 0.159
0.0 - *1.65 - *(1.0 - *2.0 -
0-4 49.3)/ 36.50 *0 0.982 -
2.0 1.80 2.5) 8.5
(21.4- *0.30

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23.50)
Layer No. II: Loose to Medium Dense Clayey Silty Sand
(26.7- 0.075
0.5 - 54.90)/ *1.70 - 0.679 7.5 -
3-8 (7.4- 19.5 *1.0 - 1.83 *(20 - 28) -
4.5 1.96 - 0.79 *15
28.40) *0.10
Layer No. III: Medium Stiff to Hard Sandy Clay
(44.2- 22.20 0.093
1.5 - 8- 63.7)/ 1.66 - 0.784 9.3 -
(7.4- - 2.3 - *13 0 -
5.0 60 1.92 - 1.37 12
29.90) 35.10 0.120
Layer No. IV: Dense to Very Dense Silty Sand/Clayey Silty Sand
(20.10-
1.5 - 50 - 37.7)/
(16.1- *1.90 - *1.0 *(30 - 32) *0.78 *25 *0.09
5.5 60
NP)
Layer No. V: Bed Rock Layer
- >100 - *2.00 - *0 *36 - - -
Note : *Parameters based on engineering judgement and using correlations of index properties

From the above table of engineering properties of soil layers it can be noted that the
thickness of top soft to very soft layer is up to 2.00 m thick. The compression index of
this layer is 0.159 and the in-situ void ratio is also quite high as 0.982. The “Natural
Moisture Content (NMC)” of the in-situ top most weak cohesive layer is quite close
to its “Liquid Limit (LL)” which clearly indicates the soft compressible nature of the
stratum. The thickness of loose to medium dense sand layer is varying from 0.50 m to
4.50 m.
Based on soil classification / consistency / compactness / soundness, compressibility /
plasticity, the foundation soil profiles for all swampy locations were considered to
evaluate and assess the engineering behavior of foundation soil strata under the load
of road embankment.

3 Design of Embankment in Swamp

The height of embankment which was considered from the existing swampy ground
level to the proposed finished road level for each stretch in the swampy area was de-
termined from the highway profile. The finished road top width and maximum height
of proposed road embankment was 11.00 m and 10.00 m respectively. The subsoil
properties of each stretch were based on the properties of the boreholes in a particular
location. To assess the stability and safety of the proposed road embankment, the
detailed analysis for the slope stability, foundation bearing capacity and settlement
analysis was carried in each of the stretches along the swampy areas.

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3.1 Embankment Fill Material

The proposed road embankment body was considered to be built with approved fill
materials, in the vicinity of respective embankment stretches having required engi-
neering properties. The embankment was actually built with selected borrow soil
namely “Clayey Sand (SC) / Clayey Gravel (GC)” having engineering nature of low
plasticity. The shear strength parameters of the approved embankment fill material
namely the “Cohesion” i.e. “c” was ~1.0 ton/m2 and “Angle of Shearing Resistance
(phi)” i.e.  was ~ 31 degree and the “Bulk Unit Weight” i.e.  was ~ 2.0 ton/m3.

3.2 Slope Stability Analysis

Stability analysis was carried out to check the global stability (i.e. slope, toe and base)
of the embankment for assessing the adequacy of the side slopes of the embankments.
The analysis of stability of the embankments was performed using “Modified Bish-
op’s Method” for establishing the minimum required “Factor of Safety (FOS)” against
rotational failure along the potential slip circles. Slope stability analysis was carried
out using the software namely “RESSA (Version 3.00)” (developed by M/s. Adama
Inc., USA and recommended by FHWA, USA). The effective stress analysis was
adopted for checking the global stability. The highest position of the ground water
table (GWT) was considered at the “High Flood Level (HFL)” of the respective loca-
tions of road embankment in the swampy area. The shear strength properties of se-
lected borrow area soil i.e. embankment fill material as mentioned earlier was used in
the slope stability analysis. The “Traffic Load i.e. Live Load Surcharge” over the
finished road embankment top was considered as 2.40 ton/m2. A minimum “Factor of
Safety (FOS)” of 1.30 was considered as satisfactory in stability analysis under static
condition.

3.3 Settlement Analysis

The consolidation settlements of compressible cohesive i.e. silty/clayey foundation
soil deposits under the action of road embankment loads were estimated using theory
of “Terzaghi’s One-dimensional Consolidation”. The immediate settlement of founda-
tion soil was considered to be over during the construction stage itself and hence was
not significant and was not considered in post construction stage. The consolidation
and immediate settlement of embankment were calculated in each stretch of the road
embankments along the swampy area. Settlement analysis was done using the soft-
ware namely "FOSSA (Version 2.00)” (developed by M/s. Adama Inc., USA and
recommended by FHWA, USA).
3.4 Bearing Capacity Analysis
Bearing capacity check of the weak cohesive foundation soil against the weight of the
proposed road embankment was done using popular “Terzaghi’s Equation”. A mini-
mum “Factor of Safety (FOS)” of 1.50 was considered as satisfactory in the analysis
of “Bearing Capacity” for the road embankment.

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December 17-19, 2020, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

The geometric details and results of “Design Analysis” of proposed road embank-
ment” along some typical stretches of swampy area in original ground i.e. without any
kind of ground treatment condition are presented below in the “Table 2”.

Table 2. Summary of Slope Stability, Bearing Capacity and Settlement Analysis of Embank-
ments in Swampy Area in “Original (i.e. In-situ) Ground Condition”

Factor Estimated

Factor of Safety (FOS) in Bearing

of Post
Stretches Details of Road Embankment Safety Construction
(Chainage) Geometry (FOS) Settlement at
in Slope Center

Capacity
Stability (mm)
Sl. No.

Consolidation Set-
Maximum Design

Immediate Settle-
Berm width ( m )

Static Condition
below FRL ( m)
Top Width (m)

Depth of Berm
Height (m)

Side Slope

tlement
From

ment
To

16+ 16+ 1.0V:

1 050 128 10.00 11.00 1.00 6.00 1.01 3.78 50 200
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
2 128 175 9.50 11.00 100 6.00 1.10 4.63 40 180
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
3 175 210 9.50 11.00 1.00 6.00 1.22 6.40 40 130
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
4 210 246 9.00 11.00 1.00 6.00 0.86 3.00 50 280
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
5 246 278 9.00 11.00 1.00 6.00 1.04 4.70 40 160
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
6 278 315 9.50 11.00 1.00 6.00 0.72 3.70 60 390
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
7 315 423 9.00 11.00 1.00 6.00 0.91 4.70 40 160
1.50H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
8 423 580 8.00 11.00 1.00 6.00 0.88 4.90 40 240
1.5H
16+ 16+ 1.0V:
9 580 840 6.50 11.00 - - 0.89 4.10 40 210
1.5H

From the above “Table 2” it is clear that the “Factor of Safety (FOS)” in slope stabil-
ity was less than the minimum required “FOS” of 1.30 even though the adequate
“FOS” (>1.50) was estimated in bearing capacity check. To improve the “FOS” under
“Slope Stability”, the required thickness of the top soft compressible clayey soil be-
low the ground level of the swampy was replaced with rocky material. Replacement
of top weak compressible clayey soil with rocky material being one of the economical
methods was adopted as the preferred ground treatment method in the project. Due to
the availability of abundant rocky material within the limited lead distance, the chosen

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Avik Kumar Mandal, Sailesh S and Pradyot Biswas

method of ground treatment was implemented successfully within the project sched-
ule and cost. The summary of “Slope Stability”, “Bearing Capacity” and “Settlement
Analysis” for the road embankment along the previously mentioned swampy stretches
with ground treatment by removal and replacement method using the rocky materials
are given in table below.

Table 3. Summary of Slope Stability, Bearing Capacity and Settlement Analysis of Embank-
ments in Swampy Area with “Ground Treatment”
Factor of
Safety Estimated Post

Factor of Safety (FOS) in kBearing

Stretches Construction Settlement
(FOS) in
Details of Road Embankment

(Chainage) at Center
Slope
m
T

o
n

o
n

y
e

a
s
Thickness of Stability

(
i

l
i

t
i
Replacement
Geometry

Immediate Settlement
Capacity

Consolidation Settle-
Sl. No.

below Static Condition

Ground

ment (mm)
Level of

(mm)
From

To

Swamp
(m ) 50% 90%

Same as men-
16+ 16+
1 tioned under 2.00 1.42 >3.78 30 50 45 200
050 128
Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
2 tioned under 2.00 1.34 >4.63 30 40 50 170
128 175
Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
3 175 210 tioned under 1.50 1.42 >6.40 30 10 10 30
Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
4 tioned under 1.50 1.48 >3.00 40 20 40 130
210 246
Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
5 246 278 tioned under 1.50 1.30 >4.70 40 10 10 30
Table 2
Same as men-
6 16+ 16+ tioned under 2.00 1.44 >3.70 40 40 10 60
278 315
Table 2
16+ 16+ Same as men-
7 315 423 tioned under 2.00 1.38 >4.70 30 20 10 30
Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
8 tioned under 1.40 1.45 >4.90 40 20 20 70
423 580 Table 2
Same as men-
16+ 16+
9 tioned under 1.20 1.45 >4.10 30 30 40 150
580 840 Table 2

From the above summary “Table 3”, it is clear that after replacement of top soil with
the rocky material, the “FOS” in slope stability of the proposed road embankments

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December 17-19, 2020, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

were found more than minimum required value of 1.30. The “FOS” in bearing capaci-
ties of embankments was also greater than 1.50. The total amount of post-construction
consolidation settlement is varying from 10 mm to 50 mm, which is very nominal.
The calculated time required for settlement was varying from 30 to 200 days. So to
consume the most part of estimated settlement, the minimum required waiting period
was provided and settlement of embankment was also observed at regular intervals.
At the time of writing this paper the pavement construction of this project was in pro-
gress. The drawing showing the typical cross section with ground treatment in
swamps is given “Figure 1” below.

Figure 1: Drawing showing details of embankment with its ground treatment in

swamp location along the project road
The rock filling over swampy bed was carried out up to 300 mm above the location
specific maximum recorded water level. Another 300 mm thick crusher run material
was laid above the top of rock fill layers. This crusher run layer was used to fill the
voids in rock fill in the form of levelled top capping layer.
4 Construction of Embankment in Swamp

In swamp locations due to presence of soft soil and permanent water logging con-
struction of embankment was difficult. To construct embankment in swamp, the end
tipping method of rocky material was adopted.
The construction methodology adopted in swamp stretches in Ishaka - Kagamba
Road project is given below.
1. Since the depth of water is more, the tracked earth moving equipment could not
operate directly on the ground. So the embankment was constructed using the dis-
placement method of top soft soil present at swamp by end tipping of rocky material.
2. Prior to commencement of rock filling under water by end tipping method, the
water born vegetation, muck, soft unsuitable material was removed from the
swamp bed to the possible extent using a large tracked excavator. The “Photo-
graph 2” shows removal of vegetation, muck and unsuitable soil from swamp.

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Avik Kumar Mandal, Sailesh S and Pradyot Biswas

Fig. 2. Removal of vegetation, muck and Fig.3. End tipping work of rocky material
unsuitable soil from the bed of Swamp in Swamp

The hard, durable and inert rocky aggregate material of size not exceeding 300 mm
and of minimum size 75 mm was used for the filling in the water logged swampy area
by end tipping method from the dumper truck.
3. Rocky material (i.e. dumped rock) was tipped directly into the water using tip-
pers and spread to full width with a projection of 1500 mm of the proposed em-
bankment by end tipping method. The “Photograph 3” shows end tipping meth-
od being done in site.
4. End tipping of rocky material was continued till it reached up to a height of 100
mm above the present water level for entire width of embankment.
5. The rocky material was compacted (pushed into the underlying material) by
tracking with equipment such as dozers, tracked excavators or loaded dump
trucks. Compaction was continued until there is no discernible movement of
rock fill. The “Photograph 4” shows compaction in progress
6. After the rock filling was completed for a height of 300 mm above water level,
covering of the rock with a “crusher run” material of maximum particle size 75
mm was done so that voids in the top of the dumped rock were filled up. This
was vibrated into the underlying voids using a heavy vibrating compactor until
there was no noticeable movement of the rock fill.
7. Further “crusher run” material was dumped over bottom filling made by rocky
material and subsequently compacted proper manner.
8. On the above-prepared sealed bed of filling, normal embankment filling work
was done and then that was well compacted as per technical specifications up to
the required finished level till the bottom of pavement.
9. The operation was done along the existing embankment; it displaced the soft and
unsuitable material in an outgoing direction.

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. Fig. 4. Compaction of rocky material in Swamp Fig.5.Typical RCC Box Culvert in

Swamp

10. The provision of cross drainage of the water in swampy area was made by ac-
commodating the required size of either “RCC Hume Pipe Culverts” or “RCC
Box Culverts” as per the hydrological and hydraulic design. The “Photograph 5”
shows typical RCC Box culvert provided within road embankment filling in
swampy area along the project road.
11. After construction of embankment, waiting period was provided for consuming
the most (~90%) of the anticipated consolidation settlement so that there was no
significant post construction settlement after laying the pavement layers.
12. Finally the designed thickness of the different layers of the flexible pavement
was laid after the completion of significant part of estimated settlement due to
the loading of the embankment filling.
13. The embankment side slope above and around the culvert structure in the swamp
were protected adequately with grouted stone pitching having bottom granular
filter layer. The provisions of weep holes for the drainage of soil water from the
embankment filling were also made along the protected slope of road embank-
ment. The turfing along the slopes of embankment was also provided in the
stretches of roads between the successive culverts along the swamps.

5 Quality Control in Construction of Embankment in Swamp

During construction, to ascertain the actual depth of soft soil present in the swamp
area, the hand held “Light Weight Dynamic Cone Penetration Tests (DCPT)” follow-
ing the “German” guidelines namely DIN 4904. The penetration value was converted
into the equivalent field SPT (N) value and this was correlated with the field borehole
log data of design stage. This method was adopted to ascertain that there is no change
in the foundation soil strata as considered during the design of road embankment in
swamps. The rocky material which was filled into the swamp was compacted so that
the loose pockets are not left out. The volume of the rocky material actually con-
sumed during the filling by “End Tipping Method” in swamps was checked against
earlier estimated volume of the swampy area based on the concerned area and com-

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Avik Kumar Mandal, Sailesh S and Pradyot Biswas

bined depth of water and swampy bed as found in design stage survey and inves-
tigation. This method of volume checking indirectly ensures the compacted vol-
ume of the filling made by rocky material in swamps. The gradation, liquid limit
(LL), plastic limit (PL), CBR and CBR Swell test were carried out for the embank-
ment borrow fill material to verify the requirements of the fill material. The density of
compacted embankment fill was also checked in required frequency so that it meets
the requirement as per the project specifications.

Fig.6.Finished Road in Swampy area of project

4 Conclusions

This paper discusses about the detailed design philosophy and construction methodol-
ogy of road embankments in the swamp locations actually adopted along the project
roads of Uganda. The design of embankment was carried out following the guidelines
stipulated “British Codes (BS)” and other international standard given under refer-
ences.
To ensure the adequate stability and restrict the maximum post-construction settle-
ment, the ground treatment by doing removal and replacement of the designed thick-
ness of top weak compressible cohesive silty/clayey soils from the swampy bed with
hard durable rocky material was done for the foundation base of the road embankment
along the project roads in Uganda. The construction of embankment was carried out
following the guidelines under references. The construction of embankments in water
logged area was carried out by end tipping method. The cross drainage of the water in
the swamps were provided by accommodating the required numbers and designed
sizes of the pipe and box culverts. The slopes of the road embankment in the swamps
were adequately protected mostly by grouted stone pitching and / or turfing. The
pavement layers over the embankment filling were laid after completing the designed
waiting period for consuming the major part of the estimated total settlement. The

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required quality control measures through entire construction of embankment were

adopted in the projects. The “Photograph 6” shows the finished road traverses through
the swampy areas of the project road in Uganda.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank senior managements, design team of engineers of M/s. LEA Asso-
ciates South Asia Pvt. Ltd. (LASA), New Delhi, India for providing the support and
encouragement in preparation of the paper.

References
1. BS 5930:2015, The code of practice for Site Investigations.
2. BS 1377 (Part 1 to Part 9), Methods of test for Soils for civil Engineering purpos-
es.
3. General Specifications for Bridge and Road Works, Ministry of Works, Housing and
Communications, Ugandan Road Authority (UNRA), The Republic of Uganda
4. NAVFAC (1982), “Foundation and Earth Structures (Design Manual 7.2)”, Department of
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, United States of America.
5. IRC 75: 2015, Guidelines for the Design of High Embankments, Indian Road Congress
(IRC), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORT&H), Govt. of India.
6. Specification of Road and Bridge Works, Indian Road Congress (IRC), Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways (MORT&H), Govt. of India, Fifth Revision, 2013.
7. DIN 4094: German Guidelines of Investigation using “Light Weight Dynamic Cone Pene-
tration Test (DCPT)”.

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