[Talk-us] Gravel roads and surface tags in the US

[Rihards]

On 2018.04.19. 17:53, Max Erickson wrote:
>> I grew up in an area with these kinds of roads and I don't think
>> they're technically compacted.  The gravel, which is crushed
>> limerstone, is laid down and due to its chemical properties creates a
>> smooth surface after several months of traffic.
> 
> Having read about this some since Tobey mentioned it on Slack, the
> compaction is often meant to come from traffic.
> 
> In the Midwest the material is often from local "gravel pits" which
> are glacial material, so a mix of sand and rounded stone. I think they
> do some sorting and remixing of the material before using it for road
> surface construction, and they definitely add clay as a binder.
> 
> I think the use of clean stone (the wiki gravel) is more common for
> ornamental driveways than for any road meant to bear much traffic.
> Apparently part of the issue is that there aren't many built roads in
> the UK (and Europe in general) that aren't sealed.

While possibly correct for western Europe, more eastwards that is not
correct. A lot of compacted roads. By distance, probably more than paved.
Pure gravel usually is reserved for smaller segments where very low
travel speed is expected - like service roads for new residential
development, driveways etc.

> Max
-- 
 Rihards