The Most Common Types of Road Maintenance
Most people have a complicated relationship with roads. On one hand, they’re convenient and get us where we need to be. On the other hand, they sure do cause us a lot of frustration. It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t experienced a traffic jam because of debris on the road or come face-to-face with an intimidating pothole. Most people have driven down a road with faded, barely legible markings as well. That’s the thing about roads—given that they’re subject to near-constant use, they’re bound to wear down eventually. Luckily, that kind of wear-and-tear is exactly what road maintenance handles. Here are the most common types of road maintenance.
Line Painting
Have you ever stopped and wondered how those perfectly straight and seemingly indestructible lines on the road came to be? These lines serve an invaluable purpose—they separate different lanes of traffic and guide people in the right direction. They’re durable but far from permanent. When they deteriorate beyond recognition, they need repainting.
Road paint normally includes thermoplastic resin, titanium dioxide pigment, and reflective glass beads. These materials make the paint strong enough to withstand both the wheels of vehicles and potentially damaging weather conditions. Of course, there are many other types of pavement-safe paint that workers may apply instead.
On major roads, maintenance crews paint lines using dedicated road marking vehicles. But on minor roads, such as the kinds you see in rural areas, they usually paint with a layering pram (a type of metal trolley, essentially), or line striping machines you can buy at Asphalt Industrial.
Patching Potholes
Potholes are the worst enemies of most drivers. These road hazards can arise for any number of reasons, but the most common cause is winter. Snow, snowplows, and salt do a lot more damage to roads than you’d expect.
We all know a pothole that’s been around for years, but let’s pretend people are fixing it right this second. The process of filling a pothole goes a little something like this: the workers clear rocks and debris out of the hole. Then, they fill it with the appropriate patching materials. That’s it! Filling in a pothole is only a temporary solution, however. Workers must repave the entire road to get rid of the hole completely.
Clearing the Pavement
When roads are full of unwanted clutter, they need attention. Cleaning gunk and debris off the pavement is another one of the most common types of road maintenance. Debris from cars, plastic bags drifting through the wind, roadkill, tree branches, and excess amounts of snow can all collect on roads. For the most part, clearing debris off the road is a simple and straightforward process. Depending on the type of debris blocking the road, the person or team assigned to remove it can vary. For example, local animal control agencies are normally in charge of clearing dying or injured animals from the road.
