[Renfield]

Ping

[fieldmarshaldj]

Of course, in America, one main ingredient in a lot of concrete is dead mobsters.

[Alex in chains]

Roman highways have withstood 2000 years of the elements.

Here is the condition of Michigan roads by comparision:

[Slump Tester]

Even back then, there was always some smart-ass telling the finishers “You don’t have to rub it, it’ll get hard.”

[Revolting cat!]

Jeez, and I thought it was to mix in the ashes of Christians. But OK, mobsters and union officials will do.

[Telepathic Intruder]

"Roman concrete also leaves a smaller carbon footprint than does its modern counterpart"

Ah, so that's why the Romans weren't wiped out by climate change. So now all we have to worry about is Vandals and Visigoths.

[wildbill]

I wonder if the lava flows from recent volcano eruptions like St. Helens, Indonesian Mt. Tambora, and the Caribbean Monserrat could provide a new source of revenue to these areas—or if the shipping costs of the ash and tufa would be too costly?

[JRandomFreeper]

Amazing that they could write the whole article without once mentioning the word pozzolana.

/johnny

[TBP]

BTTT

[zeugma]

Despite all the eco nonsense this article is laced with, it’s interesting. Sounds like Montana could have been a major exporter after Mt. St. Helens erupted. That’s one way to get rid of all that ash, ship it elsewhere!

[American in Israel]

Grant money makes for a lot of study in the moot point area. We use fly ash because its cheap, cheaper than cement. They used volcano ash because it was cheap, cheaper than cement.

Good, glad thats over, but practical information for our Millions of Dollars in grants?

Zero.

And still the streets don’t get fixed.

[listenhillary]

The EPA has classified fly ash from coal plants as a hazardous waste.

[ChildOfThe60s]

The manufacturing of Roman concrete also leaves a smaller carbon footprint than does its modern counterpart.

It just pi$$es me off royally that "carbon footprint" crapolla has to be inserted into everything. It immediately makes the whole thing suspect in the sense the reader has to wonder where else in the article has environmental PC been mixed in with (and thus contaminating) real science.

News Flash: Earth and its lifeforms are carbon based.

[central_va]

While Roman concrete is durable, Monteiro said it is unlikely to replace modern concrete because it is not ideal for construction where faster hardening is needed.

Ironically the Italian Mafia prefers the quick setting concrete.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Would fly ash (by-product of furnaces) be a reasonable substitute for volcanic ash and chunks of volcanic tuff?

The reason I ask is that 20 years ago a professor at UWM (Univrsity of Wisconsin Milwaukee) published a paper on adding fly ash to the concrete mix used in road projects to improve its durability. He estimated that the addition of fly ash (readily available and almost free) would increase a highway’s longevity to 30 years, whereas now they repave about every 5 years and the roads are in poor repair in the meantime. I believe that his idea came from studying Roman roads.

The professor’s suggestion drew no traction and no action from Wisconsin’s road builders. We figure that it is because it threatened the job security of the labor force who likes to repave every 5 years.