h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My understanding is that the technique described here is mainly used for unclassified and 'B' roads. 'A' roads (or at least trunk roads) and motorways usually get hot-rolled ashphalt. This involves stripping off the old top surface of the road, laying a base course, and then applying a top dressing of chippings in ashphalt which is thoroughly rolled in. Of course this all takes weeks because there's a huge delay between each step.

I'm not that well up on the details of the process, but from what I do know, hot-rolled ashphalt does not leave much in the way of chippings on the surface, is a proper rebuild job, not a patch-up, and doesn't dissolve in oil like bitumen does.

And then somebody comes along a fortnight later and digs a dirty great trench!

Neat article!

Any road can get the surface dressing treatment. Resurfacing (to which you allude) is more likely to happen on major roads because (a) they are funded by DTLR and (b) they get more use. Hot rolled asphalt (HRA) is the material used to surface good roads. Minor roads may have to make due wiotha bituminous Macadam (bitmac) which replaced the old-fashioned tar Macadam (Tarmac). The usual generic term for roads surfaced with some unknown compound in one or other of these categories is "blacktop."

I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in Minnesota there is no surface dressing treatments done to our roads. The road is either resurfaced or rebuilt. Resurfacing a road is an extremely fast process, or should be. It can be un at about 10miles a week. though it rarely is, most of the time the contracts for such work are set up for shot stretches, less than 5 miles, and due to ecological and government procedures are very often delayed. The contractors can do the work much faster then it ever is dune, but we have to remember to consider the feelings of the algae in the swamp.