The Return of the Gravel Road

The paved roads that finally brought rural America into the 20th century are starting to disappear across the Midwest in the 21st.

1 minute read

March 31, 2011, 5:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Local officials, facing rising pavement prices, shrinking budgets and fewer residents, are making tough decisions to regress. In some places, they have even eliminated small stretches of gravel road altogether.

But the decision to return to gravel roads isn't just happening in the Midwest. This may also be happening on a much broader scale.

The Star Tribune out of Minnesota reported on their local decisions on March 26, 2011. Two days later the Press Democrat in California published an article called, "Dirt roads: Not only here in Sonoma County" that focuses on how local transportation officials in Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties have come to the same conclusion as their midwestern counterparts.

Thanks to Mishauno Woggon

FULL STORY: Making a rural comeback: The old gravel road

Saturday, March 26, 2011 in Star Tribune

Transportation United States Transportation Infrastructure Gravel roads Asphalt roads

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.