155
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Kaboom@reddthat.com 0 points 1 month ago

Y'all apparently pave it with asphalt, which has sky high maintenance costs compared to concrete + rebar. That would be something I consider to be the actual issue, especially when you run super heavy truck trains like y'all do. If I was in charge of your road network, which I'm not, I'd start paving your big roads properly. But that's neither here nor there.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 8 points 1 month ago

Wait, where are you that they make roads out of concrete? I've never heard of such a thing.

[-] Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 9 points 1 month ago

Can be fairly sure they are in the USA.

To grossly simplify a very expansive topic of concrete vs asphalt, vs bitumen...

Concrete = more upfront cost, slower to built. It is more durable. Costs more to repair. Less traction. More noisy to drive on due to joints.

Bitumen = cheapest up front to build. Less durable, but can still get a fairly good life out of it if designed to meet expected loads. Can be repaired more cheaply.

Asphalt. Middle ground between the two. (It's effectively bitumen with cement binder added) Most of our freeways, major arterial roads here are asphalt.

Things that effect the choice: Different CAPEX vs OPEX strategies, especially with politics for public roads.

Local availability of materials.

Local environmental conditions i.e. freeze / thaw cycles we don't have to deal with in most of Australia. High temperatures we do get, which does effect bitumen.

Fair to say that costs in one country for different labour and materials look a bit different too.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 1 month ago

Huh. I had no idea bitumen and asphalt were even different things.

[-] Tau@aussie.zone 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

We don't do them anywhere near as much as America apparently does but since I believe you're around Brisbane I can pretty much guarantee you've driven on concrete roads (it'd be a lot less likely if you lived in Woop Woop). Look for it on primary routes that get a lot of heavy vehicle traffic - for example head south on the Pacific Highway and you'll find large sections of concrete.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago

Oh damn. I don't go that way often (my whole life is northside or within one kilometre of the river on the southside), but I have been down there a few times. I don't think I've ever actually noticed the road being concrete. That's wild to me.

this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
155 points (95.9% liked)

Australia

4062 readers
183 users here now

A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

Before you post:

If you're posting anything related to:

If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News

Rules

This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:

Banner Photo

Congratulations to @Tau@aussie.zone who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition

Recommended and Related Communities

Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:

Plus other communities for sport and major cities.

https://aussie.zone/communities

Moderation

Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.

Additionally, we have our instance admins: @lodion@aussie.zone and @Nath@aussie.zone

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS