Road Covering

The post on the cost of repaving asphalt triggered some thoughts about road coverings.

Our association has an alleyway (asphalt), and it needs some serious work. One idea I've been tossing around (after all the structural problems/regrading/swail/etc) is to have the final "top coat" be that new mixture of asphalt and ground up tires.

Our municipality has a test strip of road, and they've been testing this asphalt/tire mixture (probably for the last 4 years). I've been keeping an eye on it for the last few years, and it seems to wear (initially?) better than just asphalt.

I wonder if anyone has experience pricing/contracting for this type of surface, and would be willing to share...

Are there "greener" options for road surfaces? If our association has to spend that kind of money for regrading/swail/etc (serious bucks, as opposed to just a simple asphalt layer going over asphalt), I'd like to consider "green" options that would last as long or longer than regular materials.

Concrete? Asphalt? Mixture? Other materials for alleys (not dirt!)? Right now, I'm just looking to get some initial info. Not worried about exact pricing/etc. We won't begin this project for a while...

I thought I was pretty explicit in my post that all I'm looking for is ideas. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought.

Anytime my association needs expert advice, we do pay for it. This was just a question to other association people to see if they've been thinking about alternatives to asphalt...

Hi Tracie,

I'd be happy to offer my thoughts but to be honest I find a picture to be worth a thousand guesses. At this point I have no idea what this alley way looks like and you would be hard pressed to describe it accurately. You mention swales, expense, etc.

Send me an email with a couple of pictures and I'd be happy to offer my thoughts..... [email protected]

Please put HOA Talk in the subject line.

Dana