Plymouth Township Chloride Program - 2008
Every year since our inception Wayne County and Plymouth
Township have combined to chloride the public unpaved roads
in the community because they are notorious as a source for
dust, mud and potholes. The County has chlorided the primary
and secondary roads such as Beck, Joy, Ridge, Bradner and
Napier and the Township has chlorided local roads that are
in subdivisions such as Eastlawn Subdivision, Plymouth
Colony Subdivision and so on. The current subdivisions in
our annual program are noted below:
| Eastlawn Subdivision |
.6 Miles |
| General Drive |
| Eastside Drive |
|
| Micol Drive |
| Firwood Avenue |
| Plymouth Colony Subdivision |
.5 Miles |
| Governer Bradford |
| John Alden |
| Priscilla Lane |
| Turkey Run |
| Plymouth Gardens Subdivision |
.3 Miles |
| Parkhurst |
| Lakeland Court |
| Phoenix Court |
| Finch Subdivision |
.3 Miles |
| Lakeland Court |
| Finch Avenue |
| Phoenix Park Subdivision |
.3 Miles |
| Hammill Avenue |
| Garland Avenue |
In recent years the Township has worked closely with Township
residents who wished to see their local roads paved. The
Special Assessment District Process has been instrumental in
seeing the number of miles of gravel roads reduced. The 12.0
miles of gravel roads existing in 1993, have been reduced to
the current level of 2.0 miles.
The Township's annual chloride program follows the following
time line:
January
The Township obtains a County Permit to chloride.
March-April
Send out bids for contractors to supply and apply the
chloride.
May
The Township selects a contractor and issues a purchase
order to do the work. In the middle of the month the County
grades the gravel roads the day before the roads are
chlorided for the first application.
July
A second application of chloride is applied.
September
A third application is applied if necessary.
The Township uses local tax dollars to fund this program.
Chloride stabilizes unpaved roads. When cars and trucks
throw dirt off an unpaved road, the surface degrades and
expensive aggregate ends up in ditches and culverts. It has
been estimated that a car traveling 1 mile of unpaved road
daily for a year causes a ton of gravel to be lost. On
heavily traveled roads this amounts to hundreds of tons of
surfacing gravel per mile per year. The riding surface
continually deteriorates until the road must be rebuilt.
Moisture is the key to keeping fines in unpaved roads for it
coats all particles and binds them together. It also
provides for stronger roads. If moisture content is low, air
fills the voids between particles and friction between
grains prevents consolidation. As water content increases to
optimum, lubrication between grains increases so compaction
by road crews and traffic can create the greatest density.
The graded particles in a road then interlock to form a
smooth surface with sufficient strength to carry normal
wheel loads.
The question is how to keep enough moisture in a road.
Although many materials have been tried in road
stabilization efforts, only calcium chloride has proven to
be a viable long-term solution. Water, salt brine, and
surfactants evaporate too quickly. Oils and emulsions form a
thin surface crust that can fragment under loads and lead to
large potholes.
Calcium chloride works well because it has a strong affinity
for water. Even at moderate summer temperatures (77 degrees
F) and moderate humidities (75%), it absorbs more than twice
its weight in water. This chemical not only absorbs large
amounts of water, it also holds water tightly so water stays
in the road. In addition, calcium chloride solutions have a
high surface tension.
Once compacted, the surface tension creates a cohesive force
between particles that holds the consolidated base together
and so reduces the incidence of ruts, potholes, spring
washouts, loss of shoulders, and other signs of a
disintegrating road.
Calcium chloride also reduces frost heaving by depressing
the freezing point of water in the road.
Calcium chloride applications tend to be cumulative.
Applications in successive years often carry over, making
gravel roads increasingly stable and dust-free. Good roads
tend to get better year after year.
If you have any questions about the above please call the
Department of Public Works at 734-354-3270.
Thomas R. Hollis
Public Works Manager
|
