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My understanding is that concrete is generally not used for highways in Canada because it doesn't hold up well in the yearly freeze-thaw cycle that the majority
by goodcanadian 4y ago
My understanding is that concrete is generally not used for highways in Canada because it doesn't hold up well in the yearly freeze-thaw cycle that the majority of the country experiences. Asphalt is used as it is more flexible, and also easier to repair (generally just filling cracks with tar) when the inevitable frost heave damage occurs.
Concrete is more durable (but it still needs to be maintained) and that is probably why it is used in parts of the U.S. where this is less of an issue. I can't make much comment on what other countries do though I have only noticed concrete roads in the US.
- frogulis 4y agoMostly asphalt here in Melbourne. No freeze-thaw cycle, but anecdotally the few concrete roads I have driven on are pretty rough and the repairs don't appear to be very effective. (Westall road outside the ikea and Dandenong road in Caulfield where it goes under the train line, if anyone in the know is able to comment)
- rootusrootus 4y agoMaybe this is true. But honestly, we don't have that many roads in the PNW that are concrete. It was when I lived in the midwest that I noticed them everywhere. I really don't care for them. In the PNW we have relatively few, but the weather here is milder than the midwest. Not sure what that says about the freeze-thaw hypothesis.
- coryrc 4y agoI live in Seattle and almost every single road I drive on is at least concrete base. Even if I couldn't tell for other reasons, I've seen enough sections replaced for water or gas line maintenance; I've never seen one without concrete, from my side street all the way to the freeway.
- rootusrootus 4y agoMaybe that's a Washington thing, then. In the Portland area it's nearly all asphalt, or asphalt-over-concrete. Concrete is terrible in places where it rains a lot, which is one reason I'm surprised you'd find so much of it in Seattle. We have porous asphalt that never has any standing water even in a downpour. At least when it's maintained, which isn't always a guarantee on some lesser used roads.
- loeg 4y agoOlder Seattle area roads tend to be concrete; newer roads are more frequently asphalt. It was definitely very popular here in recent memory — I could name tons of concrete Seattle roads off the top of my head — but my impression is it is no longer as popular in new construction.
- toast0 4y agoThere's some real old roads that are bricks under asphalt. That's a trip. Some of the real steep stuff like Bell or Blanchard at Western, IIRC. PS if you like brick roads, there's a big (flat) one out in Redmond I accidently drove on once that someone made a nice post about https://www.dadlogic.net/old-red-brick-road-redmond/ https://www.dadlogic.net/old-red-brick-road-redmond/
- loeg 4y agoYeah, sometimes you see the brick where the asphalt has worn away. There's a bunch of that in Pioneer Square, I think. I've actually been out to the Redmond brick road before (on a bicycle -- it was unpleasant).
- s1artibartfast 4y agoThat's funny, my understanding was the exact opposite,that concrete was used more frequently in the northern US states because it can be plowed, where asphalt is cheaper but easily damaged.
- paleotrope 4y agoThat's interesting because in the part of the northeast where I live, northern new england, all the roads are asphalt with only a few exceptions. And I would guess that it's easy on the plows, because the asphalt will give where as concrete will not which would damage the plows.