Repair of old asphalt road

[centex]

I have been reading the threads about road building and maintenace and am still not sure
what I am going to have to do to fix an old asphalt road on my prpperty. This is an old
highway that was abandoned 40 years ago and that I need to fix for use as part of a drive
to my house site. It is on a 10% grade and has little crown but ditches. On parts of it
the asphalt is still in pretty good shape but there are places where the asphalt is gone
and the base is wahing down hill. If it were not asphalt I would be able to grade down to
the bottom of the washouts ( 2-3 inches deep), build a proper crown and top with gravel but
because of the asphalt I don't know how to proceed. Would it do any good to just build up a
crowned road base over the existing surface? What I have reqd here makes me think not.
I can't afford to have the asphalt ground up so should I maybe buy a lot of asphalt patch
material and try to save the old surface?
Thanks,

 

[Egon]

Perhaps if you mentioned the length and about the amount of material it requires to fill the holes it may help others with their suggestions.

As a suggestion fill the holes with cold mix, grade and compact. May also be able to mix up batches of soil cement with your mixer and fill the holes with this.

On the good sections it surely wouldn't hurt if it was sprayed with a sealer and maybe even spread a little sand over that.

Egon

 

[beenthere]

Have a similar problem, and anxious to hear what the solutions might be. Ours is an old Town road, which has been here more than 50 years. The Town hasn't sealed it in at least 40 years, and now some of it has been getting water into the clay beneath, causing frost heaving. Last fall, I and another neighbor dug out some of the wet clay, and filled the holes with gravel, trying to pack it good in hopes that it would shed water.
Seems a sealer coat applied often enough to keep the asphalt somewhat waterproof is very important. As you say, it would be best to grind it, re-mix with new oil, and relay and roll it. Not going to happen here. A puzzlement.

 

[TerryinMD]

Another approach is to use millings. This is the material removed from asphalt roads by those big grinders. We have used this material in our subdivision and it has worked very well. My driveway was paved with millings and has held up well in the sunny areas.

Check with some of your local asphalt contractors to see if they have the material. When we first got it, it was $5 a ton. Now, it is $40 a ton.

Terry

 

[centex]

There is 2900 feet of road on the property but I am only interested in fixing about 500 feer of it.
It was a two lane state highway with a width of 25 feet. Approximately 35% of the 500 foot section
is bad, that is it has oblong pot holes running dowh hill about 2 inches deep. Since no one has been
using the road the damage is just due to water getting under the asphalt and getting hot and casuing
it to loosen and then wash away with the next big rain. This property is in central Texas. We have
short winters with few freezes and even then they are light freezes. On the other hand we have very
hot and dry summers that run from April to October. 100+ degree days are not unusual in the summer.
When we get rain it tends to be severe weather with typically brief but heavy rains (gulley washers).
The hot sun here can make asphalt soft.

I am not familiar with the sealer you mentioned. What kind of material is it and who sells it?
Thanks,

 

[centex]

I was told that the state reuses the milling here so they are hard to get and expensive. Even if I
could get them, I have been paying attention to what the crews are doing on the roads and they
do grind away the old asphalt to a smooth surface. I cannot afford to have this done so I am
looking for ways to make do with what I have which is a compact tractor, a box blade and lots
of time. I am afraid that if I just try to patch the existing pot holes and surface over the result I
will end up with big mess that will be much harder to fix.
Thanks,

 

[Egon]

Don:

I do not know the name or supplier of the sealer. There are probably quite a few. One can get asphalt crack filler at most hardware stores. They would probably also have the spray on type. There will be companies that will spray seal driveways etc.
The distance you are talking about it would probably be quite expensive to spray on a sealer. Perhaps check out cost of crack filler and just seal all the cracks on the pavement you can as the highway crews do.

I appologize for not being able to give names and suppliers but in about 10 years time when my drive starts to go I'll have to find out.

Perhaps check with a local paveing contractor and see what he uses. It may even be possible to buy some from him.


Egon

 

[centex]

Thanks Egon. I assume the sealer is a petroleum product. I am going to give the asphalt patch that Home Depot sells a try. It is kinda expensive at $5.50 a bag but at least I can see how it works before buying a lot. I will try the driveway crack sealer but I expect it will be far too expensive to buy in tubes for the amount I would need. Actually a lot of cracks have grass growing in them and have collected road base
from the places that have washed outaboved them. I assume that this acts sort of like a sealer. We had a storm go through yesterday and a good bit of gravel road base washed out of the existing holes so I need to do something quick before it gets too bad. I just need to find a srting of warm dry days to work so the patch has time to get hot from the sun and seal itself before a hard rain.

 

[Egon]

Centex:

You are too kind as I offered no real help.
Asphalt is expensive to repair and should have a regular maintenance program which in itself is expensive.

Egon

 

[MarkV]

Centex,
I am wondering if trying to patch is worth it. It would seem to me you are talking about a low use---compared to a public road---drive and it needs a lot of patching. I think the bags of patch from the home center will eat up a lot of money and may not hold up very well. Roads around here---even rural roads and especially state roads---have a thick base below the asphalt. You are talking 500’ and I think it has thousands of dollars worth of gravel base below it. Have you considered bringing in a dozer for the day---about $500 in my area---having them strip the asphalt all together and using that base to grade yourself a good gravel drive? With the kind of base they put under a road, I would think the dozer could cut you some ditches and a slight crown and you would have a drive that would last forever with just minor grading by the mighty 4700.

Just another approach to think about

MarkV