Book Description

Researchers investigated the methods and costs of maintaining and upgrading aggregate roads. The goals were to estimate the cost of routine maintenance, re-graveling, and resurfacing, and to develop a process to justify upgrading the road to a paved surface when appropriate. By reviewing maintenance activities in different counties it may be possible to identify which factors affect maintenance costs. With this knowledge, it would be possible to more effectively predict gravel road maintenance costs. This thesis discusses gravel road design requirements; material used on the roadway; and maintenance guidelines and activities based on a review of The Army Corp of Engineers, FHWA and South Dakota, State of Maine, Washington State, USDA Forest Services, and Australia Road Research Board aggregate road design and maintenance rules and regulations. Also provided is a review of the state of Minnesota's aggregate road maintenance costs and activities based on seven visited counties: Waseca County, Olmstead County, Blue Earth County, Benton County, Meeker County, Aitkin County and Kandiyohi County. The researchers reviewed these counties' maintenance activities, including smoothing surface, minor surface repair, snow and ice removal, reshaping, resurfacing, and dust treatments so as to identify their effect on the total aggregate road maintenance cost. In addition, a cost comparison was performed to investigate differences in costs among counties and by differences in the Average Annual Daily Traffic on aggregate road maintenance cost/mile. This research was sponsored by the Minnesota Local Research Board through the Minnesota Department of Transportation.