Chemical used to pre-treat paved surfaces also helps maintain gravel roads in El Paso County

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Officials regularly get requests from citizens to repave gravel roads which comprise half of the county's overall road network.

But doing that on a wide scale would be too expensive, so officials devote resources to repairing, maintaining and preserving existing gravel roads.

One of those resources is the same liquid chemical that is widely used to reduce ice and snow accumulation on paved streets and roads -- magnesium chloride.

Jack Ladley, the county's deputy director of public works, said that the process is called reclamation; a large tiller injects the chemical into the road, and road graders smooth it out.

"The tiller is as big as a room," he said. "(The process) really creates a heck of a surface that lasts for a while. The challenge with it is that surface gets so hard, you could go out in your car, literally spin the tire and leave a black mark."

Another challenge, Ladley said, is that when the process eventually wears off, the road can "pop" like potholes on a paved road.

The county reclaims between 100 and 150 miles of gravel roads annually; some are new roads added to the the list while others were previously reclaimed.

"The process also reduces dust," Ladley said. "We use millions of gallons of water on gravel roads every year but when summer comes and conditions are drier, we just can't keep up."

To try and keep gravel roads as smooth as possible and reduce the "washboard effect" making roads extremely bumpy, the county operates 22 graders daily during the week.

"We try to return to the same roads every six to eight weeks," Ladley said.

He added that injecting too much chemical into a road will make it slick and muddy, so the tiller is calibrated to apply the correct amount.