Modifying a Concrete Paved Road

[CWEngineer]

I am trying to find out what is the best possible way and most economical of "fixing" a concrete road in the Ranch my parents are from in Mexico. The houses in this small ranch are made out of adobe and the fences are made out of "stacked rock." The people that lived there complained about how muddy the dirt road used to get so a concret pavement was placed on the roads. When I seen the roads with concrete pavement my first instinct was that these roads are not approriate for this small ranch. I think a more appropirate road would have been one made out of thick stones/bricks to fit in with the ranch and the surrounding mountains, even though it might have be more costly.

So I guess my question is, do you guys know of any ideas that we can do to "fix" this paved road to make it look more appealing to the surrouing area and of course for it to be structurally sound. Can this concrete paved road be modified or can another thin material be placed on top of it?

Thanks For Your Adivce and Suggestions

 

[ACtrafficengr]

I'm not sure what you can do now, but you could have used concrete that is stamped and colored to match the stone in the dry-laid walls. Another option would have been a properly engineered gravel road, with good drainage, well-graded, quality aggregate and geotextile. If the road gets more than ~150 vehicles per day, some sort of pavement is usually more cost-effective in the long run.

"...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928

"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust

 

[VAD]

I think that you would ant to leave the concrete road ib place. One suggestion would be to use a geocell which can be filled in with stone of your liking. The geocell would be placed overtop the concrete road.Is it also possible to use pavers on top of the existing concrete. You will have to check some sites on this type of fix re adhesive etc. just some thoughts.

 

[CWEngineer]

Thanks for your advice. Yes, while walking in downtown L.A. I have seen the stamped colored concrete and I thought this would have been perfect but I think its a little too late. Initially the road was pure dirt and rocks were place to provide traction for the cars and to minimize mud but with time the rocks were pushed below the surface. So yes another option would have been to place a properly engineered gravel or rock road.

This is a very small town, so I think during the busy seasons there might be about 30 cars per day, with the occasional heavy truck.

I have thought about pavers, but I assume those have to be about 6 inches or so to handle the loads. Does that seem right? I am trying to look for some material that might be out there that could serve my purpose but at the same time be as thin as possible.

Appreciate your advice

 

[jdonville]

gman1,

See these links:

http://www.bia.org/BIA/technotes/t14.htm

http://66.129.116.81/pdfs/flexlightpaving.pdf

http://66.129.116.81/pdfs/BIAheavypaving.pdf

Jeff

 

[epoxybot]

Depending on how old the concrete is I would do nothing until you have had at least one good wet season and a year for the concrete to settle.

I am sure many aspects of construction have improved in Mexico in the last ten years but much of the concrete work I have seen on homeowner projects is not of very good quality.

Mexico is not alone in bad concrete work, the apartments down the street from where I live had three driveways replaced 3 years ago and two of the same will have to be replaced again this summer.
Small contractors who do paving work without consulting with an engineer IMHO don't compact the soil well enough.

If you spend money now to dress-up your concrete you many be very unhappy later.