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> 2) Engineering a better road is simply too hard of an engineering problem, so what we have is the best we can do at the moment. Or equivalently, any better ro

> 2) Engineering a better road is simply too hard of an engineering problem, so what we have is the best we can do at the moment. Or equivalently, any better roads we do know how to make are too cost-prohibitive. This is essentially the case. Asphalt roads as they exist today are basically a really good compromise of all the variables you care about in a road. They are farely durable, are easy to repair, can be laid across various terrains, give good traction, offer a continuous driving surface, shed water farely well, and are realtively cheap. For example cement roads last longer but are not continuous. They have those breaches every few yards that make that obnoxious bump... bump... bump experience. They also have inferior grip. It's basically the same reason you probably have vinyl windows. Everyone kind of knows they aren't ideal but they are a good compromise of strength, cost and energy efficiency. You can easily beat asphalt in any one given area but it's hard to do as well across all areas.

EvilTerran 9y ago
> relatively cheap This is a surprisingly big factor: we get bitumen from refining crude oil whether we want it or not, and the endless demand for the lighter fractions of crude means we're gonna do a lot of refining regardless, so the market had to find something to do with the left-over sludge. Also pushing the price down, asphalt is almost completely recyclable: when a worn-out road surface finally gets dug up & replaced, the old asphalt doesn't go to landfill - it can be crushed up, melted down, and re-layed somewhere else. So much of the demand doesn't actually much reduce the amount on the market. Compare to, say, concrete: we don't make concrete unless we want concrete, it's not a byproduct of an otherwise-useful process; and once you dig it up, you can only re-use it as ugly gravel, you can't turn it back into fresh concrete.
- nugi 9y ago
  I wonder what shifts in road construction we will see as petro offcast becomes less common, and go up in price? Lubricants, plastics, etc all stand to see a hike.

EvilTerran 9y ago

> relatively cheap This is a surprisingly big factor: we get bitumen from refining crude oil whether we want it or not, and the endless demand for the lighter fractions of crude means we're gonna do a lot of refining regardless, so the market had to find something to do with the left-over sludge. Also pushing the price down, asphalt is almost completely recyclable: when a worn-out road surface finally gets dug up & replaced, the old asphalt doesn't go to landfill - it can be crushed up, melted down, and re-layed somewhere else. So much of the demand doesn't actually much reduce the amount on the market. Compare to, say, concrete: we don't make concrete unless we want concrete, it's not a byproduct of an otherwise-useful process; and once you dig it up, you can only re-use it as ugly gravel, you can't turn it back into fresh concrete.

nugi 9y ago
I wonder what shifts in road construction we will see as petro offcast becomes less common, and go up in price? Lubricants, plastics, etc all stand to see a hike.