Cement concrete roads are either made of Plain cement concrete or Reinforced cement concrete. In order to determine the cost of construction and quantity of material to be used for the construction of any given road Cement Concrete Road Estimate is prepared. Cement Concrete road consists of a sub-grade and concrete slab.
Cement concrete road may or may not contain a sub-base course. The decision to use a sub-base depends on the available soil condition, design load, and economic criteria. The life of cement concrete road is much more than the flexible pavement and the cost of repair is also less than the bituminous road. Any repair involved in these roads is confined to the repair to the joints mostly.
Cement concrete roads are much durable than flexible pavement. The only major disadvantage of these roads is that they can’t be opened to traffic in a shorter time period. A concrete slab serves as a wearing surface as well as an effective base. That is why rigid pavements need only cement concrete slab and base course and sometimes sub-base.
Table of Contents
1 km Cement Concrete Road Estimate
A cement Concrete road is 1 Km long 8 m wide and 15cm thick over a sub-base of 10 cm thick gravel. Prepare a detailed estimate for this road.
Detail of Measurement
Sr. No. | Description of Item | No. | L | B | H/D | Qty. | Unit |
1 | Box cutting in road crust and consolidating and dressing the sub-grade | 1 | 1000 | 8 | 0.25 | 2000 | Cum |
2 | Supplying soil gravel and stacking including Labour for spreading and Consolidating soil gravel | 1 | 1000 | 8 | 0.15 | 1200 | Cum |
3 | Cement Concrete (1:2:4) with 20 mm down stone chips for road slab including floating the concrete surface after compaction and belting after floating for skid resistance and including brooming, edging, etc | 1 | 1000 | 8 | 0.15 | 1200 | Cum |
4 | Providing necessary joints in the concrete slab and filling the joints with bitumen | ||||||
(i) | Longitudinal joints | 1 | 1000 | 1000 | |||
(ii) | Transverse joints @ 5m interval | 200 | 8 | 1600 | |||
2600 | Rmt. |
Detail of measurement
Abstract of Cost
Sr. No. | Description of Item | Qty. | Unit | Rate | Amount |
1 | Box cutting in road crust and consolidating and dressing the sub-grade | 2000 | Cum | 50 | 100000 |
2 | Supplying soil gravel and stacking including Labour for spreading and Consolidating soil gravel | 1200 | Cum | 1800 | 2160000 |
3 | Cement Concrete (1:2:4) with 20 mm down stone chips for road slab including floating the concrete surface after compaction and belting after floating for skid resistance and including brooming, edging, etc | 1200 | Cum | 7400 | 8880000 |
4 | Providing necessary joints in the concrete slab and filling the joints with bitumen | 2600 | Rmt. | 60 | 156000 |
Total | 11296000 | ||||
Add 5% for contingency = (5x 11296000 )/100 | 564800 | ||||
Add 2.5% for work charge establishment = (2.5 x 11296000 )/100 | 282400 | ||||
Grand Total | 1,21,43,200 |
Advantages of Cement Concrete Road
- Cement Concrete road has much greater life than the other roads.
- These roads are much stronger and durable. If properly compacted there is little effect of weathering agencies.
- These roads provides impervious layer thus chances of failure reduces.
- It can be designed more accurately as behaviour of concrete is well known.
- Doest not develops corrugations thus better riding surface is available.
- It is feasible to use old concrete road as foundation for new concrete which is not possible in case of flexible pavements.
- They provide dustless surface.
- Roads can be built on any subgrade.
- Cement roads provide good visibility at night.
Disadvantage of Cement Concrete Road.
- Initial cost of construction is much higher than the bituminous roads.
- Skilled labour is required.
- Cannot be opened for traffic in shorter period. Concrete has to set before any traffic movement could take place.
- Much difficult to locate and repair underground sewers, pipelines etc. if present in ground below the pavement.
- It is less resilient than flexible pavement.
- They are liable to crack and warp due to temperature changes.

Cement Concrete Road Estimate in Excel
You can download the above example in excel format from here- Click here.
What is the minimum flexural strength of cement concrete required for the design of rigid pavements as per IRC?
For Rural roads, Concrete of at least 30 MPa having a min flexural strength of 3.8 MPa shall be used.
How many cement bags are required for a 1-kilometer concrete road?
It depends on the thickness of the Concrete Slab and the width of the Road. Cement concrete road estimates are prepared to determine the no. of bags, the volume of aggregates, and the reinforcement required. However, for the above example, cement bags work out to be as under:
1 M3 of concrete, Dry Volume required = 1.54 M3
Total (1:24) = 1+ 2 +4 =7
Qty of Cement = 1/7 of the Dry of volume = 1/7 x 1.54 = 0.22 M3.
Weight of Cement = 0.22x density of cemetn= 0.22×1440=316.80 Kg
No. of bags = 316.80/5 = 6.4 bags
for 1200 Cum of Concrete, No. of bags = 1200*6.4 = 7680 Bags.
What is the cost of a concrete road?
The cement concrete road cost per Km depends on the features of the concrete road. Roughly 6-7 crore Rupees per Km are required for the construction of cement concrete road. Although the bituminous road requires very little amount somewhat around 30-40 lacs the life of cement concrete road is more. thus it will be economical in the longer run.
What is the life of cement concrete road?
Cement concrete roads have a life of 30-40 years. They are highly durable, require less maintenance, and are suitable for almost every type of soil. In long run, they are less expensive than the bituminous roads.
What is the life of concrete road?
on a life cycle cost basis Concrete Roads, due to their long life of 30-40 years and high durability, Concrete Roads are estimated to be around 25-30% cheaper than the Bituminous Roads. Thus, on a long-term basis, Concreter Roads are the most economical choice of pavement, which provide long useful life.
Are cement roads better than tar roads?
Cement concrete roads are definitely better than bituminous/tar roads but they require a high initial investment. Also, there is a major disadvantage of stoppage of traffic during repair works of the road, which is not a problem in case of bituminous roads.
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This is a great blog post. I have been doing a lot of research on preparing cement concrete road estimates and this is the best information I have found. Thank you for sharing!
This is a great blog post. I have been doing a lot of research on preparing cement concrete road estimates and this is the best information I have found. Thank you for sharing!
This is a great blog post. I have been doing a lot of research on preparing cement concrete road estimates and this is the best information I have found. Thank you for sharing!