Down the Gravel Road

jayste · Apr 23, 2010

This might have been covered here before I'm not sure. I was just wondering how many miles of gravel or dirt roads you guys have to travel down to get home. Here lately it's been on my mind since this time of the year our roads can get pretty bad. The grader operator does his best with what he has to work with. There's two ways to my house. One way is 6 miles of county/gravel road when you leave the highway and the other is 5 miles. How about you?

Patriotic Stabilist · Apr 23, 2010

We are actually on blacktop all the way. About 3 years ago they tore it all out, raised some areas that had flooded in the hurricane of 94 and made a really good road. We have lots of 18 wheelers that go to sand pits at the end of the road so they are heavy. It's holding up good so far.

About 6 miles away they have some communities. Somebody pays for a 4 wheeler to come down our road and pick up trash out of the ditches. I have no idea how we rate, but its awesome.

Johndeere3720 · Apr 23, 2010

about a mile on gravel roads.

dave1949 · Apr 23, 2010

No gravel. We are on a small two-lane state highway. The frost heaves and dips get pretty wicked (some are good for about 10 mph) by February and the road is weight posted in Spring while the frost comes out of the ground to keep trucks from busting up the asphalt.
Dave.

Redneck in training · Apr 23, 2010

We are about a mile from pavement. County grades the road several times a year. The last grader operator made road flat so it collected lot of water, got quite muddy and was quickly full of ruts. Then my neigbor complained and the county regraded the road by moving some material from the shoulder to the center. It holds much better now.

scesnick · Apr 23, 2010

Ilive on top of a mountain with a 2.5 mile driveway/road that I have to maintain and plow in the winter. The 265 inches of snow we got this year made this a full time job. So much so I hd to buy a new tractor ( Kubota MX5100) just to get out of the house.

( My house is the green roof) the other buildings are just outbuildings and one seasonal hunting cabin) Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland - Google Maps

crusty 1 · Apr 23, 2010

Jay,2&1/4 gravel,smother than the 3&1/2 pavment miles from town.Ain,t it great?

Dave

tulenutn2o · Apr 23, 2010

1.75 miles of gravel one way, 1.25 miles the other.

RadarTech · Apr 23, 2010

We are 1 mile from the state paved road on gravel..
and then 1/2 from gravel to the house by road and less than 1/8 as the crow flies-- (switchbacks)

This winter the state was so slow to scrape the snow off, I had to scrape it for them.... Well I managed 9-10 feet wide instead of the full road.

We were hit hard for our area... we had about 50 inches of the white stuff this year.-- Last year I think we had 18-20...

the road is not too bad, but we (we= all the neighbors) do have to call and complain from time to time....

My favorite call was the last one... I got the answering machine, and asked them to leave a motor grader and bring the keys and I'd fix the road just like I scraped it for them all winter with my little open station tractor.... heard later the district manager was in the office when they were listening to the messages and he called me to apologize.... and the road was fixed that day.... had a wash near a full culvert, that left 6 to 8 inches of silt on the road.

Boy would I have loved to hear what the DM had to tell the local staff....

but ya know the truth is--- it's all good living out a little, but it has ups and downs... and I see the ups as a whole lot more positive than the downs are negative....

well that's my story, and I sure wish I could find that hammack in the yard !!!

J

Patriotic Stabilist · Apr 23, 2010

Where I grew up we were only a mile from a state highway. But the farmers had cleared every tree around away from the road and their fields. In the winter the wind and snow would blow across there and create 12 foot drifts.

One winter, I think maybe dad had a few to many spirits:thumbsup:, he decided he was going to go down an old gob mine road and cut across the field. His car sat out there for a bit. I don't remember how they got it out.

MossRoad · Apr 23, 2010

jayste said:
This might have been covered here before I'm not sure. I was just wondering how many miles of gravel or dirt roads you guys have to travel down to get home. Here lately it's been on my mind since this time of the year our roads can get pretty bad. The grader operator does his best with what he has to work with. There's two ways to my house. One way is 6 miles of county/gravel road when you leave the highway and the other is 5 miles. How about you?

I can honestly only think of about 5-10 miles of gravel roads in our entire county. Rural county roads are typically chip and sealed (tar sprayed down then chipped limestone rolled into the tar) while more major routes are asphalt, with a few concrete sections, but not too many.

Duffster · Apr 23, 2010

jayste said:
This might have been covered here before I'm not sure. I was just wondering how many miles of gravel or dirt roads you guys have to travel down to get home. Here lately it's been on my mind since this time of the year our roads can get pretty bad. The grader operator does his best with what he has to work with. There's two ways to my house. One way is 6 miles of county/gravel road when you leave the highway and the other is 5 miles. How about you?

There isn't any gravel roads left in the entire township. :thumbsup:

Lurch · Apr 25, 2010

About 200' of gravel road and another 300' of driveway. Dead end road so not a lot of traffic to tear it up.

Grandad4 · Apr 25, 2010

Only 1/4 mile of gravel road, but it has what must be a pretty odd circumstance... by court order, it's a "public right of way, private road". Short explanation: It was originally a path used by a farmer cutting across some other fella's land back in horse-and-buggy days, which evolved into a dirt road used by several property owners. When a new land owner sought to restrict access, it went to court, where the road was made a public right of way, but not deeded to any gov't entity.

Someday, it'll be taken over by the county, but until then, I maintain it for the six owners that use it.

With apologies if this is too far off-topic, I've always wondered if there is precedent for such an arrangement, or if the honorable judge who issued this decree maybe had one snort too many at lunch before he came up with it.

jinman · Apr 25, 2010

I live one carwash and two dust devils down a gravel road. It doesn't matter how clean my car is when I leave the pavement, by the time I drive the mile down my road it's either muddy or dusty. In the summer, I rinse my car daily to keep the dust at a bearable thickness.

Mousefield · Apr 25, 2010

About 3/4 of a mile of mostly private gravel road then we hit pavement. :thumbsup:

CurlyDave · Apr 25, 2010

...he decided he was going to go down an old gob mine road and cut across the field...

What is a gob mine?

The mental images are amazing... No wonder he got stuck.

RadarTech · Apr 25, 2010

jinman said:
I live one carwash and two dust devils down a gravel road. It doesn't matter how clean my car is when I leave the pavement, by the time I drive the mile down my road it's either muddy or dusty. In the summer, I rinse my car daily to keep the dust at a bearable thickness.

Jinman,
Think of that as a privacy tax!
:thumbsup:

It could be worse..
At my house, I expect a mud fest every rain....
And that is the price of peacefulness..

J

brin · Apr 25, 2010

MossRoad said:
I can honestly only think of about 5-10 miles of gravel roads in our entire county. Rural county roads are typically chip and sealed (tar sprayed down then chipped limestone rolled into the tar) while more major routes are asphalt, with a few concrete sections, but not too many.

Same here Moss...Even though we live in a rural area ..going back even 30 yrs. ago we had chip and seal roads and only a very few gravel roads and now all the roads are asphalt..the county even has an ordinance that when you build and put in a driveway , at least the first 20 feet of your driveway must be concrete or asphalt...Now I can only think of about 3 short roads that are still gravel in our whole county.