Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a road? If so, you’ve likely imagined a giant steamroller pressing asphalt or some other building material into a flat road surface. While the use of heavy machinery is definitely part of the road building process, there’s actually much more to it than utilizing heavy paving equipment.
Building a road requires proper assessment, planning, and preparation before any road installation takes place. The road building planning process is vital to road building. Proper planning is deciding what the road will be made of, how to build it in a way that it will last, and so much more.
Are you looking for a new road? Perhaps a road for a new housing development, a RV park, a subdivision, your personal property, or a storage center? Regardless of where you need a road installed we can help you understand how roads are built.
In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know about building a road. Here’s the steps for building a road.
Step 1: Planning
Planning is the first step of building a road, and cannot be skipped. While you may think planning is as simple as choosing a material and deciding where to place the road, there’s much more than that.
Building a new road requires a permit to be issued. This permit will only be issued if all the checkboxes are properly checked off. This includes answering the following questions:
- What material will the road be built with?
- Is the terrain going to cause issues with the road’s integrity?
- Are utilities going to be affected by the installation of this road?
- Are there environmental issues that must be considered?
- Is an easement necessary for the construction of this road?
These are only a handful of questions that must be considered and answered to get a permit for the construction of a new road. Having a professional road construction contractor can be very helpful to making sure that everything needed in the planning process is done correctly.
Whether you’re in need of a new road for a housing development, your personal property, a RV park, or wherever you need a new road, a professional road contractor can help answer all these questions and ensure the planning process is done right.
Step 2: Design
Once the planning process of building a road is done, you’re ready to start step 2 of the road project: design.
This requires someone to survey the area that you’re planning to build the road on. Surveying the area is critical to understanding the terrain and will influence the construction.
As professional asphalt road contractors, we use a number of tools and technology to make this part of the process easier than ever before. Laser surveys and GPS can make this part of the process more accurate than ever.
Some of the factors that must be considered when surveying the land include:
- Location
- The properties of the terrain and soil
- Drainage capabilities
- The amount of traffic that the road will receive
- The ratio of cars to large trucks, busses, and other larger vehicles
- The potential for future development in the area (new housing development, commercial buildings, RV park, new subdivision, storage center, schools, churches, etc.)
- The effects of the environment due to the addition of this road
- How the road will affect nearby residents
We highly advise that you hire a contractor to do the actual designing of the road. There are so many factors that only a trained professional can do effectively and efficiently.
Step 3: Earthwork
Now is the time in the process of building a road that the tools come out and construction begins. Earthwork is the process of establishing a sturdy and stable foundation for your road. Skipping out on earthwork is guaranteeing that your road’s foundation will be faulty and eventually fail. The base layer of earth is important to the integrity of your road.
By properly doing earthwork, you’re guaranteeing that your road will not only be level and stronger, but also have a longer lasting life.
Here are the steps that a road contractor takes with earthwork.
- Embankments are created using fills and cuts.
- The next step is using heavy machinery (bulldozer, grader, etc.) to level the dirt. This is a critical step in ensuring that bumps are flattened and dips are filled so that the surface is completely level and will be able to support a road for a long, long time.
- The dirt is then sprayed with water and compacted to make it denser. This ensures that it doesn’t sink when the road is installed and the weight of traffic is placed on it.
- Next step is the installation of drains and sewers for proper sewage. The road contractor will build the road so that the center of the road is slightly higher than the edges of the road to allow water to run off and into the drainage sewers. No one wants to drive on a road with standing water on it. Proper drainage is important for the safety of drivers, but also it helps increase the life of your new road.
All of this earthwork must pass inspections before the road installation can continue. The inspections are very strict and must be adhered to. Again, this is why it’s important to have a road contractor that can do the earthwork exactly as it’s required.
The final part of the earthwork is a layer of gravel over the earth. This layer will help solidify the foundation of the road. The contractor will then compact each layer and add more until the road’s bed reaches the desired height for the road’s design.
Step 5: Paving
Once the earthwork is completed and has passed inspection you’re ready to start paving!
This is the point where you’ll either pave your road with asphalt or concrete. There’s pros and cons to asphalt and concrete, and your contractor can help advise you in this decision. We have over 30+ years paving roads and can help you with this decision. Read our frequently asked questions related to concrete and asphalt to help make your decision.
Paving with concrete and asphalt look a little different. Asphalt is heated and spread onto the foundation that was done during earthwork. Concrete is mixed and usually is poured into molds called forms. Lastly, a machine is used to level and get the road to the proper height. Works will cut joints into concrete slabs to prevent any cracks from forming.
Step 5: Test and Use
Once the road is given time to set, it’s time to test it out! Drainage test is usually done to ensure that the road drains properly. Usually equipment is used to test the integrity of the road as well. Once all the tests are completed, the final permanent road markings are placed, and the road is opened up for traffic!
Looking for a new asphalt or concrete road?
We’re Elite Asphalt – an asphalt and concrete paving contractor with 30+ years’ experience, Elite Asphalt is a trusted contractor in Texas. We have paved thousands of jobs on residential properties, commercial properties, and industrial sites. We are well equipped to tackle jobs of any size.
We’re available to help you with road construction for:
- Developing Roads for New Housing Developments
- RV Parks
- Subdivisions
- Storage Centers
- Religious organizations
- Shopping Centers
- Residential properties
- Commercial Properties
- Industrial sites and more!
Our past clients can attest that the quality of work we offer, combined with our excellent customer service, make us an easy choice for your paving project. Our goal is to bring cutting-edge technology combined with our years of experience to ensure that customers in Texas receive the highest quality of paving and maintenance.
We’re happy to tackle any asphalt paving jobs on parking lots, driveways, roads, and more. We also offer ongoing asphalt maintenance to ensure that the surfaces we construct (and even those we didn’t) continue to work for years to come. Between the summers and winters in Texas, asphalt surfaces that aren’t constructed or protected properly will break down over time. Our maintenance work guarantees that your asphalt surfaces stay at optimum condition.
Maintenance is worth its cost for a number of reasons. The number one reason is that asphalt maintenance will drastically extend the life of your surface. Rather than having to spend money to resurface an entire commercial parking lot of industrial roadway, Elite Asphalt maintenance keeps costs low and your surface working as it should.
Asphalt paving isn’t our only offering. We also have the capability to do a variety of concrete paving projects and have experience with steps, garden features, and other paving needs.
If you’re looking for the very highest level of surface and professionalism for paving in Texas then look no further than Elite Asphalt LLC. Get in touch today!
