Just “repaving” is like putting make up on a pig. It’s still a pig. There are roads in bad weather areas that get plowed to death that don’t pothole. Roads that do pothole regularly need rebuilding. Over wise, the near perfect in the summer will continue to be a donkey track, same time next year.
Roads that do pothole regularly need rebuilding. Over wise, the near perfect in the summer will continue to be a donkey track, same time next year.
In our town (and I’m sure most)…it’s a matter of budget. Yes it’s far far cheaper in the long run to rebuild the road correctly with proper draining…But it costs a LOT MORE. In fact we have a road like that. It’s about 1/2 mile long and it really needs to be completely torn up…dug down about 10 feet…Put in proper draining along with piping to remove the water. To do it properly instead of just repaving or repairing will cost us 4-5 times more. It gets brought up about ever 3-4 years when major problems start showing up…and the vote is to always just repave or fix without rebuilding the structure. This has been going on for 20+ years…and it’ll keep going on that way for years to come. Town governments waste a lot of money.
You’re exactly right @MikeInNh. Yearly budgets in small towns, just like yearly dividends to investors have no wiggle room each year for capital improvement expenses. There are few much less expensive things that can be done in every situation.
Having someone (an engineer) from a county, state or federal agency (they should be free ) with this knowledge oversee contractor work, even if it’s only for repaving. Hiring contractors that perform best erosion prevention practices to do the minimal ditching while they repave, helps a lot. Only using certified companies in erosion control as this knowledge is essential for any road work. Too many contractors do “guranteed you will need me next year again” work.
Doing things a little each year is often a small drown plan.
Probably not saying anything you don’t already know, but as soon as a few residents of our town started educating themselves and knew more then the town officials and the contractors they were hiring about road maintenance, and voice their opinions, things changed and improved dramatically…and it cost no additional money each year. Things just began to be done right.
We call it an overlay here where the top surface is ground off and a new layer of asphalt put down. It just depends on the condition of the base. If the base is bad or 30-40 years old, its rip the whole thing out and start over.