COST COMPARISON OF TREATMENTS USED TO MAINTAIN OR UPGRADE AGGREGATE ROADS

This study uses data from counties in Minnesota to investigate spending to maintain low-volume roads. Data from this investigation will allow county and local governments to make informed decisions on when it may be economically advantageous to upgrade and pave aggregate roads. The reviewed activities include maintenance grading, regraveling, dust control/stabilization, reconstruction/regrading, paving and associated maintenance activities. The expected end product is a set of relationships that can be modified to address local conditions, which will include a cumulative maintenance cost per mile. These relationships are expected to show how the maintenance costs of aggregate roads, lightly surfaced roads, and hot-mix asphalt roads vary with type of surface, age and traffic. This relationship will also be used as a tool to assist in decisions about whether or not to upgrade an aggregate road to a bound surface. Research to this point has provided enough information to give rough averages and ranges for the total maintenance cost/mile of low-volume roads. However, further research is needed to find out how counties classify their cost and whether results can be generalized.