Steel Slag Road Technology Achieves Guinness World Record with Significant Cost and Performance Benefits
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced that Steel Slag Road Technology can reduce road construction costs by approximately 40% while delivering four times the strength of conventional roads. The technology substantially extends maintenance cycles, requiring major maintenance only after nearly 15 years in suitable applications, representing a breakthrough for road engineering and infrastructure economy.
The achievement marks the conferment of the Guinness World Record for the "World's Longest Road Built with Processed Steel Slag Aggregates" to CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) and Jindal Steel Limited for their 1.85-km road at Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. This represents a major scale-up of indigenous technology that converts processed steel slag, a by-product of steel production, into aggregates for road construction.
Dr Jitendra Singh called for wider adoption of the technology beyond the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to include Railways, other government departments, state governments, and private builders, contractors, and infrastructure operators. He emphasized that the initiative supports multiple government priorities including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Waste to Wealth" recycling emphasis, transforming industrial waste into infrastructure wealth through Indian science, technology, and industry collaboration.
The technology addresses two critical challenges: productive utilization of industrial by-products and conservation of natural resources by reducing dependence on natural aggregates obtained through mining and quarrying. The minister highlighted particular value for challenging geographies like Northeast India where heavy rainfall restricts construction to 4-5 months annually and conventional roads suffer damage between construction cycles.
Technology Deployment and Future Expansion
The steel slag technology has been deployed through several landmark applications including a six-lane road connecting industrial area with Hazira Port in Gujarat, approximately 80,000 tonnes of steel slag used in a one-kilometre section of NH-66 Mumbai-Goa Highway, strategic border roads in Arunachal Pradesh, and a 1.1-km road inside Hazira Port connecting multi-Purpose Berth with coal yard.
Dr N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary DSIR and Director General CSIR, announced that CSIR-CRRI has received a work order for a 40-km road in Odisha from Jindal Steel's Angul plant, representing the next major milestone beyond the current 1.85-km Guinness record. The project demonstrates the technology's scalability from demonstration to large-scale implementation.
The minister emphasized the need for concerted awareness drives and inter-ministerial and inter-State engagement to familiarize engineers and implementing agencies with the technology. He described the initiative as an example of "whole-of-government plus whole-of-nation" collaboration bringing together government, research institutions, industry, and engineers.