It’s a miracle! The “pray for spray” has been answered! The dust bowl days are over (well, not really,
but a girl can dream)!
Today, east 120th Street received
calcium chloride dust control treatment from stem to stern. I was able to walk out and get the mail
without my gas mask! Imagine!
Seriously, the entire neighborhood sends
out our sincerest “thanks” to Stillwater Township Chair David Johnson and May Township Chair Bill Voedisch for their joint efforts to
get us this blessed relief from what was turning into a genuine respiratory
health hazard.
This wonderful product actually has a myriad of benefits to cow paths across the
country. Read on . . .
Dust Control with Calcium Chloride
Billowing
clouds of dust are recognized by the general public as a nuisance and sometimes
even as a hazard. Yet every highway superintendent knows that the tiny particles,
or “fines,” serve a vital function in the roadway surface if they can be held
there.
So long as
they remain in the surface, the fine particles stabilize the unpaved roadway by
acting as a binding agent for the coarser aggregates. But when those fines are
lost in the air, the road surface begins to loosen, and traffic starts
scattering the expensive roadway aggregate into ditches and culverts. If
unchecked, this continuous deterioration of the roadway surface will result in
the need for extensive road rebuilding and attendant high costs.
A proper
application of calcium chloride helps stop the deterioration before it begins.
When applied as a dust control agent, calcium chloride consolidates and
stabilizes the roadway to provide a clean, smooth-riding surface.
Benefits of Calcium Chloride
Calcium
chloride has a long history of use as a dust control agent for unpaved
roadways, parking lots and other unpaved surfaces, and its use in this
application is continually growing. The consistent increase in acceptance of
calcium chloride can be attributed to the combination of the following
benefits:
1.
Retention
of Fines:
The loss
of fines in the formation of dust is one of the basic reasons for the
deterioration of a riding surface. Calcium chloride helps stop this surface
deterioration by enhancing the binding the loss of fines in the formation of
dust is one of the basic reasons for the deterioration of a riding surface.
Calcium chloride helps stop this surface deterioration by enhancing the binding
together of fines and aggregates and thus forming a stabilized surface.
2.
Reduced
Material Replacement Costs:
The
replacement cost of lost materials represents an actual loss of road dollars
for many highway departments. Often an even more serious factor is the
depletion of local deposits of gravel and other surfacing materials. When
calcium chloride is applied to an unpaved surface, it coats the fines and
aggregates, binding them together to help keep the original surface material in
place and thus also to help reduce the need for replacement materials.
3.
Less
Blading:
The amount
of blading required to patch and reshape a road is directly related to the
extent of the deterioration of the road’s surface. A badly deteriorated road
surface will require extensive, heavy blading; a stable, consolidated roadway
surface will require a minimal light blading. As calcium chloride binds the
fines and aggregates together, the treated road materials form a stable,
compacted surface that remains intact and requires less blading.
4.
Elimination
of Dust Complaints (What? Moi?):
There is
no other phase of highway maintenance that is more appreciated by the driving
public and by taxpayers who live and work along unpaved roads than the
elimination of dust. Soon after
an application of calcium chloride for dust control, the telephone calls and
letters expressing concern over dust are replaced by thanks for the
smooth-riding, dust-free road surface.
5.
Adaptability
to Surfaces:
Almost no
two geographical areas have exactly the same composition of material in their
road surfaces. However, with proper gradation, calcium chloride can be used on
almost all unpaved surfaces (both large and small), including earth, cinders,
gravel, sand, bluestone, shale, limestone, clay, graded crushed stone, shell,
and other similar local materials.
6.
Increased
Safety:
Dust is
not only a nuisance but can also be the cause of accidents on unpaved roads. As
billowing clouds of dust reduce visibility, the temporarily “blinded” motorist
must confront the dangers of unseen potholes, washboard, and other road
hazards. Because of
its ability to penetrate the road surface and bind fines and aggregates
together, calcium chloride greatly reduces the formation of both dust and
potholes. The end result is a cleaner, safer, smoother-riding surface.
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