By Claire Pendergast
Tip 3 Alternative Road Surfacing Materials
There are several options to consider for your camp road, instead of gravel.
Woven Geotextile: Installed under road surface, providing linear strength to roads prone to rutting. Geotextiles should span the road and be covered with 12-15 inches of gravel.
Reclaimed Pavement/Recycled Asphalt: Reclaimed pavement is old pavement that has been ground up. When combined with fines, it is known as “brown pack.” Once installed and compacted, the residual asphalt and fines bind the material into a very resistant road surface. The most common and effective use of this material is on long, gradual sloping road segments with problematic surface erosion.
Pavement: While camp roads are often not paved due to cost, and traditional views and uses of camp roads, sometimes paving is the best option. This is often true with particularly steep, high-use, or intersection portions of the road. Paving these chronically eroding sections of the road can often be the most effective method of stabilizing them.
Additional Options: Sometimes a good gravel pit is far away from the job site and the price for the material reflects the high delivery charge. When other surface materials are locally available, such as crushed stone, crushed bedrock, or ripped shale, they may be used in place of gravel as long as they meet the particle size and fine percentage requirement discussed in the Maine DEP’s Camp Road Maintenance Manual, below.
Find more detailed information regarding Camp Road Maintenance at https://www.maine.gov/dep/land/watershed/camp/road/gravel_road_manual.pdf
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