When marginal-quality rock is encountered in southeast alaska, the rock often does not provide adequate support for truck haul. The road surface tends to rut and the rock continually breaks down afterheavy repeated wheel loads combined with wet conditions. This process reduces the gravel to fine silt and clay-sized particles that will not support construction vehicles. The traditional solution has been to blade this material off the road and haul additional higher-quality rock to support the traffic. This procedure results in higher costs and additional stream sediment. By using radial tires with lowered tire pressures, the road surface became more compact with repeated wheel loads. This result has produced large savings, exceeding $500, 000 on one project, and this concept is expected to provide future contract savings for road building and logging activities. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1291, Fifth international conference on low-volume roads, may 19-23, 1991, raleigh, north carolina, volume 2.
Abstract