Friday, June 20, 2014

Alternatives Do Exist For Street Paving


The little town of Bennet -- just southeast of Lincoln -- has fewer people than Dorchester.

The tiny village of Sprague, east of Crete, has only about a quarter of the residents that Dorchester claims.

Yet both these communities have paved streets. How did they afford it?

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to Bennet (see the picture with this article) and Sprague to study their street surfaces.  While some of the town streets were paved with good old-fashioned concrete, several streets were surfaced with a process in which a foundation of asphalt had been covered with small, crushed rock.

It's certainly more affordable than regular pavement.  And it holds up to the elements better.  Best of all, no pot holes, no dust, no washboards.  

As far as we can tell, the process is called "chip sealing." Asphalt pavement deteriorates in time because of the vehicle loads, tire wear, sun and weather.  A chip seal helps seal the surface and provides an armor coat for skid and weather resistance.  

The best aspect of chip sealing is simple economics.  The cost is about $60,000 per mile.  At that cost, we could address many of Dorchester's most heavily traveled streets.

We hope that Dorchester leaders will keep exploring options to address our streets, including considering asphalt covered with crushed rock. 

Our town's corridors are more than just surfaces we drive on -- they also impact our town's housing and the amount of investment people are willing to spend on the property they own.

3 comments:

  1. OMG-----I've been saying that FOREVER! This is exactly what we need to do. Cheaper and just as good, in my opinion!

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  2. This is a great idea! If we want to attract new residents and businesses paving by chip-sealing seems to be the way to go. All the nice new gravel put down this summer will not last. This town has a wonderful future, if we get behind this, and other ideas to realize it.

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  3. Can I also put a plug in for resurfacing the paved streets we have? Guys and gals on the village board, please take care of what we have. Our paved streets are 35 years old. Don't let them go to pot like the entire state of Colorado.

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