
The History of Asphalt - ChuckMcM
http://www.asphaltpavement.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=41
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buserror
I'm fairly sure than in the UK, Asphalt aggregates are made with a planned
obsolescence in them.

Of course, I only have my own personal experience and just a little probing of
someone who works in the industry who has evaded my questions about it...

However, despite the large amount of traffic, I can't explain why _new
surfaces_ will disintegrate in about ~4 years. We're in 2017; some roads that
have been made 50 years ago are still good to go, while others, new ones just
fall apart as soon as there are a couple of days of frost.

My take on this is that it's all made by the large contractors to get more or
less unlimited work from the councils, as the roads needs to be repaired every
few years...

Am I being cynical? ;-)

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jnty
The volume and weight of traffic has changed too - with more and heavier cars,
trucks and buses on more roads - and this will have affected some streets more
than others. Quiet residential dead-end streets will barely change, while rat
runs and secondary routes may be seeing significantly more traffic than they
were ever designed for. Equally, main roads may have been massively
overengineered at some point in the past and therefore able to cope with the
increase. There's a lot more going on there than just the layer at the top.

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the_arun
Talking about Asphalt, Here is a cool video of Asphalt Road Systems In
Australia -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnXvBuQsYak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnXvBuQsYak)

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emmelaich
If you visit Los Angeles, check out La Brea Tar Pits (- which is asphalt not
tar)

Asphalt still bubbling from the ground; lots of fossils from since the last
ice age.

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alex-
When I see speed bumps/humps/ramps I sometimes think of all the effort that
has lead to durable, smooth roads.

While these traffic calming methods no doubt work, a badly made road would
also slow drivers down.

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amhemesh
And I thought it was about the game!

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naranana
"National Asphalt Pavement Association", it's like America has a lobby for
everything.

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Animats
T-shirt: "One world. One people. One slab of asphalt. Committee to Pave the
Earth, Newark, NJ."

As a kid, I visited an US Army Corps of Engineers training base, and they gave
us the bituminous vs rigid pavement training talk, with two sergeants arguing
the benefits of each.

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xtiansimon
Hot Asphalt [https://youtu.be/vjVwi-kxLFI](https://youtu.be/vjVwi-kxLFI)

