OK, bear with me here please.. I'll try to make this as short as possible..

Recently the road leading to our neighborhood was repaved as part of a larger project which has nothing to do with the situation at hand so i won't go into that.

It's a rural country road with no shoulder and a 35 -45 mph speed limit. The main road was paved and approx a 15' apron into any connecting roads which also have no shoulders and 35 mph limits. When the road was finished they went along the road side and filled it in with dirt in some places and gravel in others. One 50' section will be gravel, the next 50 or so will be dirt. Why they did half and half i have no idea. It was always dirt/grass on the road side for the 15 yrs we've been living here. Now in our roads dept wisdom they actually used gravel on all inside shoulder's / road edge, on outside shoulders they used dirt.

My problem lies with the intersection of the main road and the adjoining road leading back to our neighborhood, which is the only way into our place unless i want to go 10 miles out of the way. People have been obviously cutting the corner too tight and running over the gravel and knocking it into the roadway.

When this first happened i gave it a week or so to see if they, the road crew would clean it up. After approx 2 weeks i then called the roads dept. Well i pretty much got ignored by the project manager. i then emailed the highway dept pics of the road and actually got a phone call from the highway superintendent. We had what i thought was a professional conversation and he understood my concerns with the gravel on the road as he road himself. He told me he would have it cleaned up, get the gravel below the road level, ( it was about 3" higher then the road surface and still is in some sections of the turn) and tamped down. He told me to let him know how things worked out.

Well within days of them doing the work it was right back to what it was before. So i called Mr S back and again we had a pleasent conversation and that he would put the road on a weekly inspection. I told him at that time i didn't think a weekly inspection was the answer and there needed to be a more permanent fix by either removing all the gravel and filling it with dirt as it had been for the last 15+ yrs or simply pave back the additional 12" or so. He said he would like to do the weekly insp process first and he would look into what right away the county has over the property involved. You would think that a superintendent would know simple basic right away's.

It's been a little over 3 weeks and nothing has changed other then its getting worse to where the gravel is actually working it's way towards the center of the intersection. If they were actually doing the weekly insp/cleanup it wouldn't be getting like this.

Heres some pics to show what i'm talking about. if it was just what i would consider a little bit of gravel or smaller pebbles i wouldn't worry about, but i think this is a bit much. sometimes traffic can be heavy with cars right on your *** and having to turn into a gravel covered paved surface can be downright dangerous. i keep picturing sliding across the pavement or getting rear ended because i have to slow down so much to make the turn.

what do you all think ? Any suggestions on how to handle this ?

 

I'd say as long as you are aware of it, what's the problem? Granted it's a nuisance and it would be better if the gravel wasn't on the road, but I don't see it as a significant hazard especially since you know it's there. If the county comes out and cleans the road periodically - great! If not, live with it.

Sorry! I know that's not what you wanted to hear but that's my opinion.

 

Just be careful. It's a road and ya can't expect track conditions (although it would be great)!

 

I'm careful, believe me.. i have felt the bike and even my durango skate a bit turning in. I guess it just ticks me off that trucks have been destroying our road, the road i live on, for the past two yrs, the only road that got paved didn't need it and now theres always gravel on a paved road where there never was before.

 

I had a similar situation that went away after a month or so, problem is the pot holes are back. LOL. One thing I hate is when they fresh oil and rock the road, (I know its needed) I always slow down to get distance from the cage in front of me which is no problem until the jackhole cager behind me decides to ride my rear tire with his bumper.

 

You can report it yo your county street dept., but it's no different than winter/ice...just be cautious and over time it'll get better.

 

i guess it'll get better when the gravel runs out.. lol..

 

Time heals all wounds. It makes gravel go away too. A little bit of rain and some time, that will all settle down.

 

It really doesn't look like that much to me. You should see the street corners around here after the snow melts--all of the sand they put down could make a 50' beach.

Since you know it's there be cautious and looking at the amount on the edge of the road give it couple of rains and a few more cars running over it and I'm sure it will be hard pan soon enough.

If you're really nervous about it grab a broom.

 

i guess i've been spoiled living where i am. MD roads are some of the best in the east, especially out here in central md. they patched 81 at a few of the bridge overpasses and you can't feel a seam nowhere. i'm use to smooth paved roads without a small rock quarry's after a repave job.. They just paved a 3 mile stretch of road by my work and no gravel in sight..