On the behaviour of low-volume unpaved resource access roads: effects of rehabilitation

A new resurfacing method has been proposed recently for rehabilitating low- cost unpaved resource access (forest) roads using a mobile crusher. The qua lify and performance of the road rehabilitated using this new method have b een a concern for some forestry companies and a study was initiated to comp are it with the traditional resurfacing method where pit-run material is us ed. Two selected forest roads in New Brunswick, Canada, one resurfaced with the mobile crusher and the other resurfaced with pit-run material from a s tationary crusher, were examined to assess the relative merits and deficien cies of the two methods. The particle-size distribution, maximum dry unit w eight, and optimum water content for standard Proctor compaction were simil ar for the resurfacing materials derived from each method. The Benkelman be am deflection data suggest that the resulting roads from the two resurfacin g methods were of similar structural capacity but the thickness of the grav el added and the level of compaction applied during resurfacing were differ ent. Moreover, the materials from both methods contained a significant prop ortion of larger size particles exceeding 25.4 mm (1 in.) and failed to con tain the required cohesive (binder) component.