Many of these roads should have never been paved to begin with, but the costs of construction, asphalt, and energy were so cheap it was done anyway. Now many rural roads are past their design life and rapidly deteriorating. It is both difficult and expensive to maintain them, and dangerous to let these roads fall apart and degrade into gravel on their own.
Examples of road safety effects caused by failing asphalt roads. The failures force traffic to travel outside of the lane and disrupt traffic movement.
Unpaving low-volume roads saves energy and money. According to Karim Ahmed Abdel-Warith at Purdue University, preserving low-volume roads costs several hundred million dollars a year, more than half of the annual investment in roads.
Unpaving would also slow vehicle speeds down, further increasing miles per gallon from less aerodynamic drag.
Since roads harm biodiversity, getting rid of a road entirely should be done when possible.
The NRC paper I’ve taken excerpts from below requested feedback from the 27 states that have already depaved roads. This report provides many helpful guidance documents on depaving roads for communities interested in pursuing this.
NOTE: I’ve also added notes from another document below: The Promise of Rural Roads. Review of the Role of Low-Volume Roads in Rural Connectivity, Poverty Reduction, Crisis Management, and Livability
NRC. 2015. Converting paved roads to unpaved roads. National Research Council, National Academies Press. 97 pages
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