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Description
Several years ago (March/April 2003), Building Principles took a broad look at camp roads. Recently, we've had a number of calls about road issues so we thought that this might be the perfect time to expand on the roadway topic a bit, and talk about a few products that have really come of age in the past four years.
Bituminous concrete ("asphalt" or "blacktop"), known as "flexible pavement" in the industry, is probably the most common roadway surface you'll find, not just at camp, but everywhere. That's true for a host of reasons but mostly because it's relatively inexpensive (though prices have skyrocketed with the increase in petroleum costs) to buy and install. Some people even think that it's cheap and easy to repair, and when it's done badly, they will correct it ... at least for a short while. Let's look at why asphalt fails, and then it will be clearer why a properly done repair may not be as inexpensive as we thought.
We all have experienced the "flexible" part of "flexible pavement" at the height of summer, when the parking lot feels soft under our feet. The opposite effect happens in the winter: asphalt roadways get very hard and brittle when cold, and being exposed to the weather it's the first layer to freeze and the first to warm. If the asphalt and the layers beneath are frozen, the stacks of material act together to support any loads applied. When the road bed is frozen, but the asphalt... |
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