[steve86]

BTW, throughout the Midwest it is commonly the case that "gravel roads" are really pea gravel and tar concoctions that most folks can't tell from more formal paving techniques with heavier asphalt.

So is that what they're talking about in Michigan? Here gravel roads are literally that: little rocks laying on top of dirt with no tar or other adhesive agent. Very dusty and little durability.

[muawiyah]

Couple of seasons that "tar" on a single layer road will look pretty much like dirt.

I suspect that in the Midwest they are talking about peagravel and tar ~ although I have experienced "gravel roads" but many of them were "paved" with local gravel so they looked pretty much like dirt anyway ~ then there's "crushed rock", and I haven't seen that term showing up in any of these articles. Gravel roads ride one way, and crushed rock roads ride differently.

[muawiyah]

http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/gravelroads/intro.pdf

[muawiyah]

Full of good stuff. Seems a "paved road" is paved with a semi-permanent surface such as asphalt or concrete.

Everything else is "unpaved".

Unpaved does not mean "dirt". It can mean "corduroy", "dirt", "gravel", "stone" and a variety of other surfaces.

"Stone" roads exist in and around Bloomington, Indiana. They cut large blocks of limestone and lay them down as drives and private roads in many places.

Indiana 37 (lots of you have been there) is, for the most part, a layer of concrete that's been poured right on top of solid limestone floor.

Easier to lay concrete to smooth out the bumps than to polish the limestone!