Southengineer

I've got a road that is 17' wide, and the plan is to widen it 3' to each side. The road currently has about a 2-3' compacted gravel shoulder on it, that is about 2" below the top of the existing asphalt. Road is medium traffic, nothing really heavy. 2 lanes. Pretty average use.

I could A. use binder to level the shoulder to the existing road, and then put 3" of asphalt on top of the binder & existing.

or B. Grub the existing shoulder out, lay in about 6" binder and put 3" asphalt on top of it all.

I'd love a couple of opinions. Also, I need compacted aggregate shoulders, but I can't find a price for them anyplace. Any ballpark shots? This is just a cost estimate so we can determine feasibility before spring paving jobs. CY or Tonnage is fine.

TERM101

I would first check the base material. I wouldn't pave anything less than 6" abc and a decent soil under that. You can put all the binder in the world but in the end it will only be as good as your base. If they wont pay to add more base material then I would just walk away. You will only end up losing your a** in the end.

Kgmz

Is this a city, county, or state public road?

If yes then they will have required construction standards.

I am doing basically the same thing for a project right now. Widening the road about 6 feet each side so road will be wide enough for a left turn lane.

Here are our standards for a county road from bottom to top.

C.S.B.C 10" compacted min. depth
C.S.T.C 2" compacted min. depth
.040' compacted depth HMA class 1/2" (Two - 0.20' lifts)

And after shoulders are widened, a 1.5" compacted depth HMA class 1/2" overlay over the whole road.

C.S.B.C is (Crushed Surfacing Base Course, 1 1/4")
C.S.T.C is (Crushed Surfacing Top Course, 5/8")