Schmism, do you have or have you ever used a (driveway scraper blade) ?
Anyone that has very much of a drive or road to maintain, I usually suggest that they have more than one implement to take care of that chore. That is why I have 4 different implements to do the job, each one is better than the other for an intended purpose.
I have to admit to never useing one.
As to the second part, you couldn't be more wrong. I use a singular example as evidence to support the idea that the best item (and perhaps only item) needed is a rear blade, is the fact at all rural counties have used a singular item to maintain there gravel/dirt roads for the past 100+ years. That item, a motor grader.
While a rear blade is no motor grader, its the closest your going to come to a MG.
As to useing a LandPlaneGraderBlade, dirt/gravel roads move with seasons. espeically in the wet seasons and durring frost thaw. Once the perfect shape of a road has been changed from both weather and travel, the only way you can effectivly reshape it is useing a rear blade. Yes you might get it done with a box blade, or even a LPGB, but when your talking 9 miles of road to maintain I think the OP is going to want to only consider options that get the job done with as little time and as few as passes as possible.
The fact that a LPGB is not designed to allow crown to be built into a road, you can not reclaim loose material that has been driven to the edges of the road by traffic with a LPGB and you cant cut ditches with it. You cant windrow material with it, and it is of a fixed width limiting use on roads with various widths, such as around turns and between obstacles.
see
Smoothing and Reshaping of Earth and Gravel Roads - YouTube for great instruction on how to reshape and resmooth gravel/dirt roads useing a MG. Essentially the same process with a rear blade. All of the options discussed, side shifting the blade, blade tilt for mixing of larger and small aggregate, blade angle, wind rowing. A rear blade is the ONLY implement that can do it all.
I believe LPGB's have become so popular is because they cost less than large HD blades, and are easyer for the avg homeowner to use to maintain there own gravel driveways. (hook it up, pull it behind the tractor, instant results. nothing, and i mean nothing to adjust) But make no mistake, a gravel driveway use is far different than the expectations of gravel road use, because of that and the above points, I just dont see how recommending a LPGB for road maintenance over a HD rear blade makes sense.
