4 ms·

Until now, I wasn't aware USA makes highways with concrete. As far as I know, in Poland vast majority of paved roads is made with asphalt, rarely bricks.

HyperSane 4y ago
Only the busiest roads are made with concrete. Most roads are asphalt.
JoBrad 4y ago
In Middle TN, at least, asphalt is coming back in favor. Apparently concrete doesn’t handle the freeze/thaw cycle very well, and is harder to repair than asphalt. In a side note, TN Department of Transportation recently experimented with a more porous asphalt variant on some major roadways, which was supposed to help with drainage. But in the winter, rain soaked deeper into the porous asphalt, causing much larger pot holes than expected. They repaired this with more traditional asphalt, which really stands out next to the more porous type, when it’s raining. I don’t know what the final fix will be, but it seemed odd that they wouldn’t have tested that scenario more fully.
- rgj 4y ago
  That’s porous asphalt, developed in the Netherlands and used on 90% of the roads here. It is fantastic when it’s raining and it gets damaged really quickly when it’s freezing. In our climate the benefits heavily outweigh the downsides and we just apply a new top layer very often (once every 1 - 5 years).
  - JoBrad 4y ago
    The potholes here were so big that it burst car tires and dented rims. The idea seems great, but not sure why it was so bad here.
kube-system 4y ago
It depends on the use. Both asphalt and concrete are widely used in the US, depending on the engineering demands.
voidfunc 4y ago
Depends where in the USA you are. Most of the Northeast is asphalt.
garaetjjte 4y ago
Some highways (eg. west part of A2) in Poland are concrete too. (not to mention post-German concrete highways, but I think they are already gone)
rootusrootus 4y ago
The vast majority of paved roads in the US are asphalt.

HyperSane 4y ago

Only the busiest roads are made with concrete. Most roads are asphalt.

JoBrad 4y ago

In Middle TN, at least, asphalt is coming back in favor. Apparently concrete doesn’t handle the freeze/thaw cycle very well, and is harder to repair than asphalt. In a side note, TN Department of Transportation recently experimented with a more porous asphalt variant on some major roadways, which was supposed to help with drainage. But in the winter, rain soaked deeper into the porous asphalt, causing much larger pot holes than expected. They repaired this with more traditional asphalt, which really stands out next to the more porous type, when it’s raining. I don’t know what the final fix will be, but it seemed odd that they wouldn’t have tested that scenario more fully.

rgj 4y ago
That’s porous asphalt, developed in the Netherlands and used on 90% of the roads here. It is fantastic when it’s raining and it gets damaged really quickly when it’s freezing. In our climate the benefits heavily outweigh the downsides and we just apply a new top layer very often (once every 1 - 5 years).
- JoBrad 4y ago
  The potholes here were so big that it burst car tires and dented rims. The idea seems great, but not sure why it was so bad here.

kube-system 4y ago

It depends on the use. Both asphalt and concrete are widely used in the US, depending on the engineering demands.

voidfunc 4y ago

Depends where in the USA you are. Most of the Northeast is asphalt.

garaetjjte 4y ago

Some highways (eg. west part of A2) in Poland are concrete too. (not to mention post-German concrete highways, but I think they are already gone)

rootusrootus 4y ago

The vast majority of paved roads in the US are asphalt.