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More than 50 percent of U.S. roadways are gravel roads, making them a vital part of our transportation system. One of the drawbacks and biggest complaints about gravel roads is the dust they produce when vehicles drive over them. Residents that live on gravel roads deal with the dust that settles on their homes, yards, and parked cars, potentially reducing their quality of life. Dust can also have adverse effects on air quality and the environment and reduce the safety for drivers due to impaired vision. To control the dust on gravel roads, local agencies apply various dust suppressants on their roadways, mainly calcium chloride and magnesium chloride. However, many other dust suppressant options exist. The Minnesota LRRB has developed this document, Dust Control of Aggregate Roads, A Brief Synthesis of Current Practices, to provide local agencies with a summary of research that has been completed on various dust suppressants, their effectiveness, and impacts. Results from two surveys that document dust suppressants that local agencies (within Minnesota and Iowa) use is included as well.
The purpose of this manual is to provide clear and helpful information for maintaining gravel roads. Very little technical help is available to small agencies that are responsible for managing these roads. Gravel road maintenance has traditionally been "more of an art than a science" and very few formal standards exist. This manual contains guidelines to help answer the questions that arise concerning gravel road maintenance such as: What is enough surface crown? What is too much? What causes corrugation? The information is as nontechnical as possible without sacrificing clear guidelines and instructions on how to do the job right.
The purpose of this manual is to provide clear and helpful information for maintaining gravel roads. Very little technical help is available to small agencies that are responsible for managing these roads. Gravel road maintenance has traditionally been "more of an art than a science" and very few formal standards exist. This manual contains guidelines to help answer the questions that arise concerning gravel road maintenance such as: What is enough surface crown? What is too much? What causes corrugation? The information is as nontechnical as possible without sacrificing clear guidelines and instructions on how to do the job right.
The State of Iowa currently has approximately 69,000 miles of unpaved secondary roads. Due to the low traffic count on these unpaved roads, paving with asphalt or Portland cement concrete is not economical. Therefore to reduce dust production, the use of dust suppressants has been utilized for decades. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of several widely used dust suppressants through quantitative field testing on two of Iowa's most widely used secondary road surface treatments: crushed limestone rock and alluvial sand/gravel. These commercially available dust suppressants included: lignin sulfonate, calcium chloride, and soybean oil soapstock. These suppressants were applied to 1000 ft test sections on four unpaved roads in Story County, Iowa. To duplicate field conditions, the suppressants were applied as a surface spray once in early June and again in late August or early September. The four unpaved roads included two with crushed limestone rock and two with alluvial sand/gravel surface treatments as well as high and low traffic counts. The effectiveness of the dust suppressants was evaluated by comparing the dust produced on treated and untreated test sections. Dust collection was scheduled for 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after each application, for a total testing period of 16 weeks. Results of a cost analysis between annual dust suppressant application and biennial aggregate replacement indicated that the cost of the dust suppressant, its transportation, and application were relatively high when compared to that of the two aggregate types. Therefore, the biennial aggregate replacement is considered more economical than annual dust suppressant application, although the application of annual dust suppressant reduced the cost of road maintenance by 75 %. Results of the dust collection indicated that the lignin sulfonate suppressant outperformed calcium chloride and soybean oil soapstock on all four unpaved roads, the performance of the suppressants on the alluvial sand/gravel surface treatment was less than that on the crushed limestone rock, the residual effects of all the products seem reasonably well after blading, and the combination of alluvial sand/gravel surface treatment and high traffic count caused dust reduction to decrease dramatically.
Dust can be a health concern because of its potential to contain respirable particles. The US EPA and state environmental agencies developed and implemented a reporting system for the amount of particulate (PM10) derived from various sources including gravel roads. Although numerous techniques are used in attempts to control the dust generated from gravel roads, all have limitations and the search for more effective means of reducing dust levels from gravel roads continues. Geotextile separators offer the potential to reduce dust while providing enhanced driving characteristics and reduced maintenance of the roads. A field demonstration program was initiated to quantitatively document the dust suppression effect of geotextile separators on unpaved, gravel-surfaced roads. Six sampling events were taken to evaluate the effectiveness of using geotextiles as a dust suppressant. Results indicated that the dust collected on the downwind side were always significantly higher than the dust collected on the upwind side. Initially, dust collected on the control section was 70 to 80% less than the pre-geotextile dust levels, for the downwind side.