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Chelseafc5505 t1_j3ohve0 wrote

Your main complaint about asphalt is....that it's black?

Lol. Solid argument.

What colour would you prefer road surfaces to be?

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tuggyforme t1_j3olhp4 wrote

correct. The color is a light black/dark grey and very depressing to look at every day.

I don't know bro. It doesn't have to be that horrible boring color tho. could go with cobblestone or different shades of asphalt or cement. Parts of western PA is all reddish... florida is often times a lot brighter.. dubai/abu dhabi does all kinds of awesome fancy things.. so does shanghai.. like there's no reason to leave things so goddamn dull and depressing.

Concrete looks better and lasts longer. But the contractors maintaining roads don't want to hear it, because asphalt is temporary and they get to redo it every couple years.

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Chelseafc5505 t1_j3onkyb wrote

Colour aside, there are pros and cons to both.

Concrete is significantly more expensive, to both deploy initially & maintain over time. Sure it lasts longer, but given the significant lack of funding nationwide for infrastructure - if you want roads to be concrete it's going to come from one place - out of the tax payers pocket.

Asphalt is cheaper and quicker to deploy, has a shorter lifespan, but can be recycled (melted down and reused). It also is far more forgiving on vehicles than concrete.

Asphalt has far better traction, and absorption. So in TX, where they aren't dealing with freezing temperatures as often as, MA let's say, it is more feasible to use concrete. It's not as practical to build concrete roads in colder areas that will turn into ice rinks in the winter.

The colour (I believe, but could be wrong) is more to do with the aggregate they can source locally versus for any aesthetic purposes. Want purple roads? Well that'll prob cost even more for w.e chemical they use to dye it, and who's footing that bill - you got it, the taxpayer.

Asphalt, while not ideal, is far more practical for most applications.

What we really need, is a new material/solution that has the durability of concrete, but cost efficiency & recyclable nature of asphalt.

Colour for aesthetic purposes is pretty low down the list of actually important factors

Edit: I think it's "brighter" in Florida because it's sun bleached.

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Nwk_NJ OP t1_j3oyht5 wrote

Really interesting. I never knew any of this lol.

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tuggyforme t1_j3qp69x wrote

Considering all the waste and other cosmetic things we spend on, I don't think a little bit of dye in asphalt is going to break the bank.

We don't ignore any other part of cosmetics when it comes to our environment.. paving cosmetics seems to be an after-thought. It isn't everywhere.

check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPJCTOQGU04

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Chelseafc5505 t1_j3qpzuh wrote

You're not wrong about the government being terrible about spending money...

But doesn't change the fact that we can't afford/don't allocate enough money to infrastructure in this country, and increasing costs for the sake of aesthetics is a non starter.

And it's not a "little" bit that's needed lol. Think about the scale of the road systems in this country. A small cost increase per 1 mile of road X a lot of miles of road = a large cost

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tuggyforme t1_j3qqwts wrote

I love how everyone turns into budget-conscious graduate IV league economists the moment they have an argument to make 🙄

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Chelseafc5505 t1_j3qqz57 wrote

Thank you for your valuable contribution to the discussion

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