And some Texas Roads Will Be Converted to Gravel

@edgarblythe,

You know, back to the subject on the condition of roads, Perry needs to take a look at what going on right where he works.

The local roads here in town are for ****.

I suppose I just got used to them, more or less, until I went to NJ for a visit a month or 2 ago. On both inter-town highways, and local roads through neighborhoods there, the comparison is embarrassing. I remember thinking that if the friend I was visiting came to my fair city, I would be ashamed. It's doubly shaming knowing that roads up there get a lot more beating, what with snow, ice, road salt etc.

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In times past Texas had fine roads. But they are getting worse all the time. I avoid some streets to protect the car from rattling apart.

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@edgarblythe,

Back in 1980 I went to visit my Dad who was on a temporary assignment in Brownsville. There had just been some heavy rains and there were a lot of potholes. Road crews were using caliche to fill pot holes. We have a lot of caliche in southern Arizona, but I have never seen it used to repair roads.

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@mesquite,

I remember a few caliche roads from my teens. I think they all got paved.

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@mesquite,

In the South Asia conflicts of the last century, geologists were given rank and sent in to map LATERITE deposits so that runways, able to handle C-119's and F4's could land . LAterites like caliche (slightly different chemistry), once it gets wet and then sets "up" its like concrete. It will all crack and rode after a few years but its a great short term road building natural cementitious mix.

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I'm surprised the big oil companies are sitting back doing nothing about this.

If big trucks are the problem, then build designated lanes for them constructed out of something else besides asphalt.

Better watch out not to close or hamper emergency routes out of Corpus Christi when the next hurricane strikes.

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@farmerman,

When I lived in south Florida in the '50s they used a material that I remember being called shell rock as an inexpensive paving material for dirt roads, driveways, and parking lots. It was similar to caliche in that it would pack hard but had a lot of seashell material in it.

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@mesquite,

mesquite wrote:

Back in 1980 I went to visit my Dad who was on a temporary assignment in Brownsville. There had just been some heavy rains and there were a lot of potholes. Road crews were using caliche to fill pot holes. We have a lot of caliche in southern Arizona, but I have never seen it used to repair roads.

I was listening to Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 the other day. This particular episode was from the heart of the Staffordshire potteries, and they claimed that was where the term 'pot hole' originated. People would steal clay from the roads in order to make pots.

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@mesquite,

that was a unique material to Fla and te Caribbean islands. Its called COQUINA ROCK amd it can be made pasty and itll harden into a nice porous pavement.
I used to spec it for phosphate mines I worked at in Fla

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

I was listening to Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 the other day. This particular episode was from the heart of the Staffordshire potteries, and they claimed that was where the term 'pot hole' originated

Ha.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

I was listening to Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 the other day. This particular episode was from the heart of the Staffordshire potteries, and they claimed that was where the term 'pot hole' originated. People would steal clay from the roads in order to make pots.

Clay, that's something we got a lot of. Hard, sticky when when clay.

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@chai2,

Well asphalt has superseded it now, but it might still be better than gravel.

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Gravel is plentiful in Texas and likely much cheaper.

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@chai2,

Exactly! We got a kind of clay used for roads here (NW NM) that will take black streaks from spinning tires, and just turns to soup when it's wet.

I think Texas is going to rediscover the Bernoulli principle as applied to traffic. With a given amount of traffic, the lower the speed of the vehicles; the denser the traffic. I think they are going to end up with some hugely congested, slow moving traffic.

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mesquite wrote:

Back in 1980 I went to visit my Dad who was on a temporary assignment in Brownsville. There had just been some heavy rains and there were a lot of potholes. Road crews were using caliche to fill pot holes. We have a lot of caliche in southern Arizona

mesquite wrote:

When I lived in south Florida in the '50s they used a material that I remember being called shell rock as an inexpensive paving material for dirt roads, driveways, and parking lots. It was similar to caliche in that it would pack hard but had a lot of seashell material in it.

chai2 wrote:

Clay, that's something we got a lot of. Hard, sticky when when clay.

edgarblythe wrote:

Gravel is plentiful in Texas and likely much cheaper.

Wow, all these options besides asphalt, and each one with such local flavor to it.

Arizona has its caliche. Florida has a version of that that exploits the plentiful seashell stock. Texas has more gravel than it has oil.

I think it's just great that roads are all going to have a regional character now. Very Happy

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@edgarblythe,

This is probably an excellent idea. Google those counties and zoom in on the map. I live in a "town" in a county like them. Big trucks heading out to oil wells and farm vehicles wreck paved roads. The population of the county can't support paving roads at the rate these utility vehicles tear them up. It sounds like a stupid thing to do if you live in a real city or town.

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@missconduct,

The only reason we can't afford good roads is because we give our all to big money and rob the state to do so.

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@edgarblythe,

roads, schools, health clinics, ...

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@edgarblythe,

I don't know, I live in the DFW Metroplex and I am bitching every day about the fact that every road I may choose to drive upon is under construction.

Just got back fro South Padre Island and there was construction all the way.

My concern seems to be the opposite of yours.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Yeahok.

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And some Texas Roads Will Be Converted to Gravel

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