Posted on 02/06/2017 4:05:45 PM PST by Lorianne
One place it has been done is Butler County, Alabama
Some cities and counties in the U.S. are avoiding the cost of repaving roads by converting them to unpaved roads.
Among the municipalities in the report is Butler County Alabama, which is listed as having 250 Miles of unpaved roads and spending- $4-Million a year on roads. The county officials say the decision to covert a road from paved to unpaved was made because it was the most cost effective way to deal with a problem road. The report does not identify the road.
In some cases, officials just let the roads deteriorate. In others they crunch up the existing road surface and add gravel to create a new road surface.
There have been about 70 such conversions, stretching along 550 miles of road in at least 27 states, according to a 2015 review of the projects produced by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.
(Excerpt) Read more at alabamanews.net ...
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.
Bingo on highway funds to mass transit!
There are also some novel polymer and cement treating methods that work excellently to produce a cheap, smooth driving surface that haven’t gained much traction here due to aesthetics. They “drive” like a paved road but look like dirt.
Oh, and also there is a phenomenal rubberized chip seal/rehabilitation material I’ve worked with once so far that is amazing. It’s made with asphalt emulsion and quantities of virgin and recycled rubber granules. It is insanely effective, I’ve seen before and after pics followed by years after and the latter still looked like they just did it. I actually saved some of the material to experiment with making a pellet/bullet trap with it.
In other news, California is conducting a study on converting the horseless carriage back to the horse.
In California lots of funds are spent on the Bike lanes, it is ridiculous the amount of money they spend on those.
Oiling the rural roads worked great until a few instances of dumbasses oiling them with PCB contaminated oil occurred.
Sounds like you’ve never been on a dirt bike.
I saw what you did there.
They’ve used it for as long here, most contractors though seem to think they can process the subgrade to a suitable depth/moisture-density and work at that for a while before they finally listen to us and go grid or fabric in a change order... :-/
That’s very interesting. Do you have a link?
My experience here in WV is that, if the county spent half the time and money used for grading/graveling on keeping the drainage ditches and culverts clear, they’d end up time and money ahead. Last summer, they came through and did our road. A week later we had a run of thunderstorms. Washed the gravel right off and it’s been mud ever since. Most of the ditches are just suggestions, except for the new ones the running water made.
They were fun for that, so long as you kept it between the ditches. There’s a definite art to driving at speed on loose gravel, you tend to learn how to control the vehicle fairly quickly, or you’ll find yourself greasy side up.
Reads like Atlas Shrugged. Who is John Galt?
Starnesville ping.
Bike lanes are insanely expensive, but one thing I’ve learned is that the bicyclists aren’t going away. I’m more in favor of them than I once was, just to get them out of the traffic lanes.
You Sir have made the most informed post of the thread.
My grandfather was (for many decades) a country road commisioner in northern Kansas. I remember him grading muddy roads when there was nobody available to hire.
Dittos!
I would much rather drive/ride on a maintained dirt road than a potholed “paved” one.
Easier on the body and the vehicle.
I can look around. I knew a guy who was involved in it and went to China to do it road wise. I just watched over a cement treat for soil stabilization weekend before last too (I do a lot of geotech these days), so for me it’s mainly experience/word of mouth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.