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Driving on gravel road.

G

GordoSD

Well-known Member
What speed do you think is safe on gravel for: passenger car, pickup truck, big trucks hauling hogs hay and cattle? I live 1/2 mile on gravel, north of a primary state blacktop highway. 50 feet north from the highway is a speed limit sign, 55 mph. It seems to me most drivers see that as a challenge to get from zero to 55 in that 50 feet. I saw the dangers when I built my place here, and within a week I had trained my 5 birdogs and Lab to stop and sit within 50 feet of the gravel road. But the deer, pheasants, fox, mink, skunks, possums and coons aren't so lucky. There is a LOT of 18 wheeler traffic as there are 4 hog containment operations with 8 miles due north on "my "road.
Would I be acting like a cranky old man if I went to the County commissioners and requested a lower speed limit. There are only thee homes in the mile, and one is right on the blacktop/gravel corner. And of course there is a stop sign near his home.
 
I favor around 40 when on gravel because it can be slipperier than ice. When going across Labrador/Newfoundland with the miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles, it's common to get up to 50-60 but the roads are pretty straight with a nice sight-line. Through mutual, unspoken agreement, converging traffic will slow to 20 or 25 to keep windshields and headlamps intact. Same held true heading up the Dempster to Inuvik.

Can't go too slow.
 
i agree with steve, about 40 is the limit, unless you are kicking up a lot of dust, then i slow way down. we have a lot of gravel roads around the farms .
 
With a pickup truck, around 50 mph is fast enough in my opinion. With a heavy truck (I personally run Super B trains, so 30 wheels) around 35 mph is plenty. And, as Steve said, common courtesy dictates both parties meeting on a gravel road slow down to save glass.
 

I think that here in Iowa, the speed limit is 50 unless posted otherwise. If the road is not posted, 50mph is the limit.

There are a few younger folks out here that can't seem to take time to smell the roses, but for most of us, 40mph is plenty fast enough, and 25 to 30 is normal.

There is a "Tee" intersection 1/4 mile north of me. That intersection keeps the big trucks at a sensible speed.
 
Be glad you don't live in the Australian Outback they have huge trucks pulling several trailers running up to 95 MPH on a gravel road,cars run off the road in the fields when they see them coming.
 
There is no one size fits all answer to the speed limit on a gravel road, too many variables.

But if you see a need for the speed to be reduced, by all means take it to the commissioners meeting. I would start by talking to the other people on the road, get their thoughts. Then compose a letter, list specific reasons, signed by all if they agree. Mail the letter, see what happens. If possible, find out when the matter will be made public and try to be there in person.

I sent an Email to TXDOT (Texas dept transportation) a few years back about a dangerous intersection on the freeway service road that needed to be a 2 way stop, and high weeds blocking the view. Never thought I would get a reply, but got a thank you reply in a couple days. Sure enough, the weeds were mowed the next day, and in a couple weeks there was a new stop sign!

Sometimes it works!
 
no its 55 on gravel and i agree thats too fast but its the law. Ive lived on gravel most of my life and too many divers just do not understand the safety hazzards that go with driving on it. Now in my old age i find myself going just 35 or so gives me time to look at the crops and wildlife anyhow if i was in a hurry i would have went yesterday.
 
Gordo, I'm in exactly the same situation, but luckily the house is 500 or so feet back from the road. We only drive about 40 or so on the gravel, but most use every bit of that 55 (and more). Our vehicles are always filthy, as we're driving in the dust cloud. I notice the neighbors tend to outrun the dust, even to the point of being able to roll through the stop sign at the oil road before the dust catches them. Makes for a cleaner vehicle, I guess. I moved here from out of state, and am not about to be one of those guys who tries to convince y'all to change to be more like the place I left.
 
TF that is what I was just thinking. There is a stretch there out of Alice Springs that is 300 miles or so of gravel and they run TRIPPEL trailers trains and as you say practically no speed limit. Trucking is really interesting down there. Saw a trucker that said he had on 600 head of steers there one morning. One can talk about it for ever but to you see it almost unbelievable .
 
Man I can remember when the county used to OIL the roads so to settle the dust. On the farm I would mix half drain oil and water in a motorized orchard sprayer and oil our own lane. Puts that dust right down. Now the government is up our b..ts!
 
I usually drive 35-40 on gravel. I like to check stuff out, see the crops (ours and the neighbor's) and there is no reason to destroy the chloride by running too fast and tearing loose the surface once it is locked down. Once we chloride the roads, they are smooth as pavement, but few appreciate the smooth dust free road and slow down. Usually it only succeeds in making them think they need to drive faster, in turn tearing loose the set down road surface, and then turning into washboard soon after. And then the same people that drive 60+ on it, tearing it loose, call to complain that it's washboard and dusty. And obviously, with every dust cloud, there goes your clay binder, trying to hold everything together. If I was you, why not? See if they'll work with you to set a slower speed limit. Good luck though, people that fly down gravel roads usually fly on pavement roads and probably won't slow down anyway.
 
I would try to get them to blacktop the first part of the road, at least the excelleration part, to cut down on road damage. Won't help with the speeders, but will keep the road in much nicer shape. And you cann ask for a lower speed, and likely get it, but I doubt it would change the speeds unless you can also get the cops to ticket a few from time to time.
 
I remember when they oiled roads! It settled the dust, but later made some killer pot holes!

The last place I saw that done was just south of where I live. They would really pour the oil to it, it would be running down the ditches!

Don't know where they got it. probably something too contaminated to recycle as rerun oil.

Problem with collected oil, used oil is collected sometimes free, or for a small fee. Hazardous waste cost mega bucks to have disposed! So, which barrel do you think the HW ends up in? Don't ask how I know this!
 
Depending on the conditions 25-30 MPH is often plenty and 45-50 MPH is tops in my area...The roads are narrow,often rough,deep ditches in places,and lots of farm machinery and traffic...Some intersections have poor vision so you stop at them even though there are no signs..

Out in western Kansas and eastern Colorado where the gravel (sand) roads are 50-60 ft wide and often packed like concrete,50-60 MPH is as common there as 30-40 is here.....I've been on 4 lane hiways that weren't as good..Theres no ditches,no trees,no traffic and its 3-5 miles between farm houses...You can see for 5 miles and have to be there to believe it..
 
Living next to a stop sign on a gravel road can be much worse than living next to a straight section of road. Why do you want a lower speed limit and what would you want it lowered to? If it to protect the wildlife, protect your pets, reduce the dust or reduce the noise, you would probably have to reduce the speed limit to 15 MPH and add several speed bumps to have much effect. Reducing road maintenance to leave a washboard road might be a more effective solution.
 
Heres what it looks like south of Bazine,KS.....30 ft wide and nothing for miles...This road was smooth...On west the roads are often much wider..
zvzwbr.jpg

117ea2t.jpg
 
Around here you would be a grumpy old man. I drive anywhere from 10 to 80 on gravel roads. Doesn't make any difference whether its a pickup or big truck. My opinion is if you don't feel safe there you shouldn't have built there.
 
1206 I used to harvest in that area. Some of this one farmer's fields were in Kansas, some in Colorado. The roads get dangerously dusty when dry and if a heavy rain hits they get slicker' snot but all in all they are good smooth roads. The only things sticking up are power poles and gas wells.
 
Where I live , we take the gravel road , to the gravel road that takes you to are farm. And I hope it never gets paved . Once the roads are paved , every idiot drives down them like an expressway. Our county puts Calcium Chloride on the road top, and that keeps the dust down. I think side roads should have speeds posted , some thing like 40-50 mph.
 
In MN they spray chloride on gravel roads where there is a lot of traffic, it really prevents dust but it does rust the vehicles. Our cabin is on a gravel road and they spray a couple of hundred yard by our driveway.
 
MY son was working for Eyster Haresting near Kanarado when I visited him during the fall corn harvest. It had rained a good bit and all those sand roads were closed to the crews until the road superintendent said it was OK. In just a few hours they went from mud to dust and they ran corn north of town on the Colarado side.they could run as fast as they wanted as they were very smooth. That old elevator in Kanarado is so narrow between the silos they had to fold the mirrors in on the trucks, LOL.
 
Where I grew up most all roads were gravel, and Dad would stay about 25-30, which seems slow until you went over a patch of washboard road. But his point was to try to save the suspension on the car, especially shock absorbers. Relatives from up north would come for a visit in the summertime, usually in a new car and 45-50 was their speed. Then when they returned the next summer, they griped about having to replace shock absorbers from their last visit, and sometimes a broken spring. Dad would just smile and say "Isn't that amazing".
 
(quoted from post at 14:25:34 08/01/16) What speed do you think is safe on gravel for: passenger car, pickup truck, big trucks hauling hogs hay and cattle? I live 1/2 mile on gravel, north of a primary state blacktop highway. 50 feet north from the highway is a speed limit sign, 55 mph. It seems to me most drivers see that as a challenge to get from zero to 55 in that 50 feet. I saw the dangers when I built my place here, and within a week I had trained my 5 birdogs and Lab to stop and sit within 50 feet of the gravel road. But the deer, pheasants, fox, mink, skunks, possums and coons aren't so lucky. There is a LOT of 18 wheeler traffic as there are 4 hog containment operations with 8 miles due north on "my "road.
Would I be acting like a cranky old man if I went to the County commissioners and requested a lower speed limit. There are only thee homes in the mile, and one is right on the blacktop/gravel corner. And of course there is a stop sign near his home.
Click to expand...

Growing up in SD on dirt roads, I know my mom would hit 70 on some stretches...when we were late....which seemed like always.
 
The smoother I make them, the faster they go, the quicker they turn to crap.
A US DOT spec gravel road is 28' wide (2 13' lanes, 26' with 1' of grass shoulder on each edge)with a 4% crown. For comparison a two lane interstate has 2 12' lanes for a 24'road with 2% crown. Potholes are caused by the Grader operator not maintaining drainage and Washboards are caused by excessive speed, braking force, and acceleration of Vehicles. I run a 16' blade, anything wider than 30' would require an extra pass. Around here speed limits are set by law and based on a engineering survey, changing a speed limit on the public right of way would require a drastic change, such as enough residential development to meet residential street status.

28679514926_a235311675_c.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 20:55:32 08/01/16) The smoother I make them, the faster they go, the quicker they turn to crap.
A US DOT spec gravel road is 28' wide (2 13' lanes, 26' with 1' of grass shoulder on each edge)with a 4% crown. For comparison a two lane interstate has 2 12' lanes for a 24'road with 2% crown. Potholes are caused by the Grader operator not maintaining drainage and Washboards are caused by excessive speed, braking force, and acceleration of Vehicles. I run a 16' blade, anything wider than 30' would require an extra pass. Around here speed limits are set by law and based on a engineering survey, changing a speed limit on the public right of way would require a drastic change, such as enough residential development to meet residential street status.

28679514926_a235311675_c.jpg
Click to expand...

You don't know how good you have it...out here you would be bouncing over tips of boulders on most gravel roads....and we have washboard so bad on some hills I need to use 4 wheel drive to pull my loaded trailer up them. Man I hate washboard....
 
Whether it's a narrow dirt road or a freeway, it all comes down to being able to maintain control and stop in time to handle anything unexpected. If a gravel road is in good condition and you have good visibility (e.g. no hidden driveways), I don't see anything wrong with doing 70 mph. Back on the straight, wide-open roads of eastern Colorado we did it all the time. Here in Michigan, with all the trees and hidden driveways, traveling that fast is dangerous even on a paved road. For most of the gravel roads around here, 35 to 50 mph is about it and many roads are unsafe even at 25 mph.

I don't know what the law is in SD, but in Michigan, local governments can't set a lower speed limit than that established by state law without doing a traffic study on the particular road. The state limits are based, in part, on the number of entrances per mile. If there are less than 30 entrances per half mile, the speed limit is 55 mph.
 
We drove the Alcan Highway to Alaska and back in 1974, 1200 miles of gravel road one way. IIRC the speed limit was 50 MPH mainly because of the flying stones. Two vehicles two cracked windshields and I think 5 broken headlights. The road was constantly being maintained and watered.
 
Correct Steve! The part of the country where I grew up, I had always heard the county used Dioxin for dust control,and also as a defoliant for brush. Early 70's.
 
Speed is whatever people go, usually fast, and depends on when graded or new gravel is put on. Gravel here is rarely posted, supposed to be 50. If I go to the closest Walmart by the shortest route, it's a little over 60 miles, about half of that is gravel, the road below. I usually go around the highway, especially after rains or during harvest, washboards in a couple places, hard on vehicles. Only a mile and a half of gravel to the highway then, adds about 10 miles to Walmart, but takes about the same amount of time. That's at the end of my driveway, only about a 1/4 mile or so from the yard (trees are being trimmed as I get time, several since this picture). My neighbor's place can be seen at the far end, white dot next to the cedar on the right. I wouldn't build any closer to the road.

38741.jpg
 
55 too fast on gravel. I think West Virginian's have to be the champs when it comes to flying down a two lane road on 2 wheels. Seems like most of their 55 mph roads are way too narrow and curvy.
 
I can't imagine going over 40mph on any gravel roads in the Ozarks. If you drove 55 on most of them, you wouldn't be driving long until you had to call a wrecker. Most of the time I drive 25-35 and on some of the roads 15mph would be tops.
 
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