Gravel Roads; The Beauty and Challenges of Dirt!

Dirt roads are a part of our history. They connect us to our past. A dirt road is often beautiful, meandering, even romantic. But they also can be bumpy, full of potholes, rutted like an old-fashioned washboard, and muddy. Oh, so muddy. Tom Johnson, Superintendent of Washington’s Department of Public Works, is quick to point out that old dirt roads weren’t built to be roads; they were tracks farmers used to get from one place to another.

Technically, a dirt road is a bit of a misnomer. Most roads we call dirt are gravel roads made up of a mixture of dirt and crushed stone or gravel. Twenty-two-and-a-half miles of roads in our town are gravel. The remaining 19.7 miles are paved.

It was autumn when my husband first drove up Lovers Lane, years ago, to see the property he would end up buying…The road crossed a bridge and immediately turned to gravel then gradually climbed up a mile to the property. It was a golden afternoon. The light shown through masses of yellow leaves on the maple trees that lined the road. The yellow light, the maple trees and the dirt road sold the place.

We love our road. Our neighbors love our road. But not everyone loves a gravel road, especially in mud season. Gravel roads need a lot of maintenance. At least twice a year, they need to be graded, smoothing out the bumps and ruts. Importantly, grading in the spring also creates the slight crown down the middle of the road which allows water during spring and summer storms to drain off into the gutters running alongside the road.

In fall, the grading is also essential to smooth out the road and flatten it, removing the crown, making the road uniform and more stable for winter driving and plowing. But probably the worst thing about maintaining gravel roads is mud. And last year’s mud season was one of the worst, according to Johnson. In his office he elaborated.

“Last year we had two mud seasons—one in January and one again in March!” Usually, spring brings only one. There are places in town, he says, that have real drainage problems when mud season hits: up at the beginning of Watson, another up on the Middlefield Road, at the bottom of Schultz Road and then a long, troublesome stretch on Lovers Lane that begins where the paved portion meets the gravel. The first 2000 feet of the Lane is the worst.

It is here that Johnson and his crew are conducting a well-researched plan this fall. They hope it will prevent the mud season disaster from recurring next year. Whenever mud season hits, the short-term solution, Johnson explains, is to dump stones on the mud to help solidify the surface and to help drainage. But this stopgap solution does not last, nor does it address the underlying drainage problem.

Franklin County has more dirt roads that any other county in the state, and their manual of gravel roads details some of the structural issues: Mud season is the result of excessive water content in the road structure that freezes during the winter months. As temperatures warm in spring, the water in the roadway melts from the top. Since lower levels are still frozen there’s nowhere for the water to drain and the top layer of the road, which is usually the finer particles of dirt and gravel, forms a “slurry.” The action of passing vehicles pumps this fine slurry to the surface. The stones sink and the mud rises.

Simply put, a well-built road has a firm subgrade roadbed with a layer of aggregate base (18 to 24 inches of gravel or large crushed stone) and an eight-inch surface layer of a finer mix of crushed stone. The course material provides strength and has voids between the particles to help drainage. The finer stones fill the gaps to help hold the course materials together, ideally decreasing the infiltration of water into the road.

Johnson’s plan is to close the first 805 foot section of Lovers Lane from the end of the paved roadway south to the first mailbox. He will dig down four feet to the subgrade level. Six inches of big stone aggregate will fill the approximately 22-foot-wide trench. On top of this, three inches of slightly smaller rock will be applied with another 3/4-inch layer of finer gravel. Johnson then plans to cover this strong base with geogrid or plastic mesh and another layer of crushed stone. The mesh is designed to prevent the mud slurry formed during mudseason from rising through the gravel base while, at the same time, letting water flow through the mesh, thus draining the road. Johnson hopes this operation will take no more than several weeks, weather permitting. Lovers Lane will be closed for as long as it takes.

The Chapter 90 Program, authorized through Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, Section 34, provides funding to municipalities for maintenance of paved roads. Gravel roads are not included unless major reconstruction is needed and approved; nor are there state regulations for the upkeep of gravel roads.

The amount allotted to Washington annually for paved roads comes to about $168,000 a year, which, on the one had sounds, like a lot — until Johnson points out that the 0.9-mile stretch of Upper Valley Road from Summit Road to Route 8 repaired this summer cost $252,000. The biggest cost, according to Johnson, is covering the prevailing wage for operators of heavy equipment. “It adds up!”

The funds used to pay for the work done on Upper Valley and Frost Roads this summer came in part from the Storm Damage Reimbursement Funds available from the State after the July 18, 2021, “Big Rain.” In addition to the Storm Damage Reimbursement Funds, the town used the past four years’ worth of Chapter 90 Program funds (the $168,000 per year). “With what’s left over in the town budget we are able to do this major reconstruction on Lovers Lane,” Johnson adds. If the improvements work as hoped, town residents can anticipate mud season improvements on Watson, Schultz and the Middlefield roads in years to come.

While the costs of maintaining our gravel roads mounts up as they did last spring, you might just ask: “How about paving the gravel roads?” But the initial cost of paving our gravel roads would be steep, explained Select Board Chair Kent Lew. It is not just a matter of putting pavement on top of gravel. The roadbed need o be prepared, drainage problems need solving, roads need to be made wider to conform to state laws, trees need to be removed, and landowners need to be consulted. It is a costly and daunting project for a small town like ours.

And then there are all the folks who prize our gravel roads, and the character they lend to our town.