Crushed Concrete on the Jones State Forest

While more expensive than seeding, armoring a road surface with rock is an excellent way to prevent erosion and improve access, especially on roads that remain wet for long periods of time, experience heavy traffic, or are prone to erosion.  A popular rock to use is crushed concrete.  When structures such as roads and buildings that are made of concrete are demolished, it has become common practice to take this concrete and crush it for reuse.  After the concrete has been crushed, magnets remove any steel such as rebar that may be present.  The final product is a hard, granular aggregate that is composed of sand, gravel, and crushed stone. 

Crushed concrete is often cheaper than using natural rock aggregate since it is a byproduct of demolition.  Crushed concrete stabilizes relatively quickly once it is applied to the road creating a firm road surface.  Just as with using other rock material for roads, crushed concrete drains faster than if the road was left with its natural dirt surface, reducing the potential for rutting in the road. 

This week, 118 tons of crushed concrete was spread out on a section of road in the Jones State Forest in Conroe, Texas by TFS Resource Specialists Mike Adams and Ray Uballe.  The section of road where the crushed concrete was distributed is just one stop on the best management practices (BMP) tour down on the Jones.  The tour consists of various BMPs that have been put into application so visitors can not only learn about these BMPs, they can also see them in use. 



 Resource Specialist Ray Uballe spreads the crushed concrete following the delivery of the material

 


Resource Specialist Mike Adams smoothes the newly applied crushed concrete