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For some people in the world they have never had to drive on an unpaved road much less rely on an unpaved road for their daily transportation. In fact, just about 95% of the world’s roads are unpaved making unpaved roads extremely important to the world. For those that use and require unpaved roads they used the unpaved roads just as the paved roads would be, the unpaved roads link town to town, village to village, and allow children to go to school, villages to export their crops and goods. Without any form of roads, the world would not be able to produce goods and have economies for the citizens to provide.

With the information detailed it is easy to see how important unpaved roads are to the world. While technology and advances have greatly increased the paved roads, the unpaved roads are often left behind with little to no attention. Current construction methods of unpaved roads usually call for the same treatment, gravel. By applying gravel to the unpaved road, the gravel gives a topcoat to the road, so the surface is not pure dirt. The gravel also provides good friction and a drainage source for water.

In the instance water is introduced to a gravel road through rain or another naturally occurring event the gravel acts as a filter and will alleviate all of the water from dumping directing on to the dirt at once while even deflecting some of the water to the shoulder of the road. Water is often the kryptonite of an unpaved road, when the water is introduced to the unpaved road, the road will turn into mud and sometimes making the road inoperable. When the soil dries from the water the road could then be severely rutted and still making the road inoperable. The traditional method to solve this issue is to apply more gravel prior to the rainstorm and after. This step is often expensive and difficult to do in rural and developing areas.

Create a Permanent Unpaved Road

Most people think of all unpaved roads to be temporary and require maintenance every 6-12 months to keep the road operable. When constructing and grading the unpaved road the addition to Perma-Zyme will create an unpaved road that will last over 10 years with little to no maintenance. Perma-Zyme creates a concrete like surface by permanently bonding the soil particles together, this is a process that is naturally occurring that takes centuries but Perma-Zyme expedites the process into weeks if not days.

Application

The process of applying Perma-Zyme is very easy and requires no special equipment. Perma-Zyme is sold in liquid form and comes from Substrata very concentrated. The first step of the process is to use a grade or pulverizer to rip up the existing soil and bring fresh soil to the surface. Upon completion the Perma-Zyme would be applied to the soil via a water truck in which the Perma-Zyme is heavily diluted. At this stage the grader would come back through and mix the Perma-Zyme into the soil as much as possible by windrowing the soil side to side. The next and final step is compaction, compaction is the most important step in the process. When compacting the soil, it is ideal to achieve as close to 100% compaction as possible, this allows the Perma-Zyme to start its bonding process and create the strongest surface possible. At the completion of compaction, it is recommended that light traffic is not on the road for 24 hours and heavy traffic is not on the road for 72 hours. The soil will begin to harden and cure immediately and will even continue to strengthen for up to 6 weeks.

Allowable Traffic on Perma-Zyme Roads

For most applications Substrata recommends treating the soil 6 inches (15.25cm) deep. Soil treated at 6 inches deep will have more than sufficient strength for regular traffic such as passenger vehicles and light semi-trucks. In the event that heavier traffic will be on the road such as logging trucks, mining trucks, or roads with heavy semitruck traffic Substrata would recommend a depth of up 12 inches (30.5cm).

Expectations of Perma-Zyme Roads

While every road and environment will vary because of construction methods, traffic, climate, etc., it is possible to expect that the road will last 10-15 years with little to no maintenance. Some users elect to apply a thin layer of gravel on the top of the road to increase friction for vehicle traffic. Since the Perma-Zyme surface is smoothly compacted and extremely hard it can lack traction for the traffic. Overall, gone are the days that the road will have to be regraded and re-graveled every 6-12 months to maintain operation.

Perma-Zyme is not a dust suppression product but Perma-Zyme will greatly reduce the dust produced by the road. Perma-Zyme constructed roads have decreased dust because the dust/soil particles are locked into the ground, so they are not able to be disturbed and enter the air. In the likely event that dust particles from the surrounding environment land on the soil treated with Perma-Zyme the dust would enter the air when driven over. All in all, the dust is severely decreased with Perma-Zyme applications.

Wrap Up

Using Perma-Zyme for unpaved road construction can shed new light and opportunities to the regions in which it has been used. Perma-Zyme treated unpaved and dirt roads now offer the citizens a stable and reliable road so they can rest assured their transportation will be sustainable.

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