(Matthew Russotto) wrote in news:-O6dnWL-
:

> In article >,
> Wayne Pein > wrote:
>>
>>As far as I know, freeze-thaw damage only occurs when cracks are first
>>formed in the surface from heavy vehicle use and water enters these and
>>freezes.
>
> Freezing not only works from the surface, but from the soil beneath
> and around the road. Frost heaves can damage the surface themselves,
> and also cause cracking allowing further damage.
>
>>I've never seen heat buckling in my neck of the woods here in
>>NC, but I can't discount that it might happen elsewhere. I suspect that
>>it occurs when heavy vehicles operate on the hot surface and is not a
>>function of mere heat.
>
> You'd be wrong. Enough heat can force segments of concrete highways
> above neighboring ones.
>
>>by deterioration, which implies slow degregation. Any natural disaster
>>can destroy roads, but the culprit of deterioration is not age from just
>>sitting there but use from motor vehicles, and more precisely heavy ones.
>
> This is true on a road which is used by heavy vehicles, because that's
> the fastest method of deterioration from such roads. An unused
> Interstate-quality highway will last a good long time, because its
> base is too deep to allow vegetation to get a foothold, and it's
> well-drained (hopefully) and generally very thick. But eventually it
> will deteriorate. Lesser-quality roads will deteriorate much faster,
> particularly where freezes occur.

A long time ago,I read somewhere(maybe a PopSci article) that roadway life
is directly related to roadbed preparation,and that German roads lasted far
longer because they spent more on roadbed construction then the US.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net