Improving the Big Hill

I am guessing that everyone has a “Big Hill” in their lives.  That little area or thing that you know could be made better or easier but instead we put our heads down and power through rather than take through the trouble to fix it.

Check out how high the markers are !

In our case, on our challenging road, it is the Big Hill.  In fact the Big Hill is what makes the road challenging.  The Big Hill is big (hence the name) but more importantly it is darned steep.  Too steep for the county road people to consider it a proper road.  Too steep to do without a bit of a running start.  Too steep to get up when icy.  Just plain steep.

And worse than plain old steep the actual pitch of the road varied.  Now, for all the complaining that pretty much everyone does when they travel on this road, it is orders of magnitude better than it was when we built here.  Then the road was twisty in addition to steep and variable, and the surface was crumbling away.  Many, many truck-loads of gravel and RAP (recycled asphalt product) later it was much better but still a road of varying steepness that had also developed a few surface issues.

What to do?

First coarse gravel

Currently our county is running a program to assist land owners in improving private roads.  After approval, they will pay for half of the investment.  Approvals are supposed to be based on adherence to certain standards - for example width and pitch - to allow emergency vehicles access.  They are however practical people, and in the case of the Big Hill some of theses standards can't be met.  The funds are aimed at improvements, not maintenance, so can’t be used for gravel etc – but that varying steepness thing???  Right down their alley.  This is a very good thing.  There are only a few of us sharing the cost on this road and so help from the local government is most appreciated.

So – first thing was to survey the road and get some idea of how much variation can be taken out.  Turns out – quite a lot!

Markers were placed and seemed frighteningly high.  The cross piece on the wooden stakes is where we wanted to end up.



Fill, in the form of a very coarse gravel, was going to be needed up to the marks.  Once done then RAP (recycled asphalt product) would be spread on top.

Then RAP

RAP is an interesting product.  As local highways in the province are resurfaced the top layer of asphalt is removed and ground up. we all see those big machines as we inch by during construction season. This stuff is sold as RAP to folks like us who spread them on private roads – hills in particular.  The material sets up in the heat and with traffic on top of it.  It cannot be graded or crowned so is not as good for flat bits – but for those hills it is quite nice.

Many truckloads of gravel and RAP later things are looking pretty darned good.  The major variation in the steepness is gone and the surface is even, just awaiting more car and truck traffic to really pack it down.  We have been lucky too with the weather.  After a dismal rainy summer season, September has been warm and sunny – warmer than July or August – so the conditions are perfect. 

We have some newbie visitors coming this weekend.  I ma guessing they will still find the Big Hill intimidating - but for the rest hopefully they will see an improvement.