Yes, it’s cheaper to go to dirt roads so in the spring we can dump about 200 tons of gravel on them for every mile when they turn to soup. LOL
I remember as a kid, every few years they tarred and graveled over a base of asphalt. It was fast and filled a lot of cracks and imperfections before they got too bad.
Some towns even ran a sweeper over the roads after and collected the excess gravel and reused it.
Now they pave once and then let them fall apart.
They’ve used geotextile for decades in Europe. By using geo, you get an extremely long lasting surface due to the additional support. The gravel cannot sink into the subgrade.
The clay road behind my grandfather’s house sprayed with oil and never got muddy. It smelled like a gas station in the summertime.