[Lessismore]

Even more interesting would be an analysis of road tar. The reason that there is not a huge slag heap next to the oil refinery is that they take the un-refinable waste product and sell it for building roads and streets. Depending on the source of the crude, there are all sorts of long chain and multi-ring hydrocarbons which should be released by weathering, sunlight, and by combination with other pollutants. To say nothing of various heavy metals, radioactive nuclides, etc.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

So dirt roads would be better and also steel wheels, like the pioneers used to settle the west.

Revive Studebaker!

Conestoga wagons (pronounced "kahn-eh-stoh'-guh") were large, sturdy wagons usually pulled by six horses. Their strong, broad wheels made them capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the non-roads of the prairie. An unusual feature was a curved floor, designed to reduce load shifting -- and Conestogas were capable of loads up to six tons!

The high sides and curved floor gave rise to a common misconception...that Conestogas could float across rivers. During the Civil War, the Union Army did experiment with supply wagons that could -- they hoped -- float well enough to cross small rivers. But, the idea did not work very well. Conestogas were nicknamed prairie schooners because their high, white canvas tops gave the appearance of sailing ships, especially when traversing the sea of grass of the American prairie.

Smaller, cheaper styles of covered wagons, with lower sides and a flat floor, eventually replaced the Conestoga.

Conestoga or simple covered wagon. In their day they were the trucks, pickups, and family vans that opened the Great American West.

[Oberon]

Interestingly, when my father's church had their parking lot repaved, they bulldozed up the old pavement and pushed much of it over an embankment at the back of the property, where it sat hidden from view on a brushy hillside.

They were subsequently cited by a county inspector for environmental violations involving hazardous waste, i.e. the old pavement. Apparently when it's in a parking lot it's innocuous, but when it's on a junk pile it's hazardous.

I wonder how that pavement knows where it is...

[AZLiberty]

The reason that there is not a huge slag heap next to the oil refinery is that they take the un-refinable waste product and sell it for building roads and streets.

I thought it went somewhere else. I've always said that if it wasn't for Diet Coke, this country wouldn't know where to put all its toxic waste.