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Colorado City Uses Toilet Paper to Help Repair Cracked Roads

posted by on Thursday December 08 2016, @04:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the good-for-multiple-types-of-cracks dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Denver Post reports

At first glance, Littleton, [Colorado,] looks like ground zero for Halloween pranksters this year--toilet paper is strewn across street after street and block after block.

The messy look prompted a few irritated inquiries from residents on the city's Facebook page this week, like this one from Madison Lucas: "This is UGLY!! All over Littleton!!" Or from Stephanie Gregory : "My kids and I thought it was vandalism."

But the TP'ing scheme is actually the work of the city itself. Littleton is using bathroom tissue as part of an effort to seal the myriad cracks that plague road surfaces in this city. It is tackling 120 streets with this bottoms-up tactic.

[...] The TP, applied with a paint roller, absorbs the oil from freshly laid tar as it dries, keeping it from sticking to people's shoes or car and bike tires. With the paper's protective abilities, asphalt isn't tracked all over the city or splattered on wheel wells. And the biodegradable paper breaks down and disappears in a matter of days.

[...] Kelli Narde, a spokeswoman for Littleton, said the real benefit of using toilet paper is that it allows traffic to retake the road right after a crack is filled.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Thursday December 08 2016, @10:38PM

    by darnkitten (1912) on Thursday December 08 2016, @10:38PM (#438898)

    In my town, they are UNpaving town streets--two this year and more to come. When finished, the town will only have four paved streets: Main Street (also a state highway), the main cross-street, and the streets that serve the schools and the hospital. There's also a paved county road, but the Town is only responsible for the parts they dig up...

    It's become too costly to keep the asphalt in repair and repairs rarely last through more than a couple of winters. Dirt roads can be graded and sprayed a couple of times a year to keep them in shape, using Town employees rather than hiring outside contractors, with all the hassle that entails.

    The sad thing is that it's an improvement (at least on my street).

    The downside, of course is seasonal mud, which is a pain for habitual pedestrians like me. And, of course, the impression that we are regressing--I had a dream a couple of years ago:

    Cloud and pillar cities right off of an old SF magazine cover in the distance, and hover cars zipping through the town with the riders gawking at the cattle being driven up the dirt roads.

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