MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATING COSTS AND RELATED CHARACTERISTICS ON UNTREATED GRAVEL AND PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE ROAD SURFACES
PROGRESS ON A COOPERATIVE PROJECT BETWEEN THE IOWA ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION AND THE PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMING THE EFFECTS OF ROADWAY TYPE AND CONDITION UPON THE OPERATING COSTS OF MOTOR VEHICLES IS REPORTED. FIVE NEW AUTOMOBILES ARE BEING USED, TWO ON GRAVEL, TWO ON CONCRETE, AND THE OTHER ON BOTH SURFACES. COMPLETE AND DETAILED RECORDS ARE KEPT ON CONSUMPTION RATES OF FUEL, OIL, TIRES, ETC., COSTS OF ALL ITEMS, MEASUREMENT OF WEAR AND OTHER DATA. AS THE PROJECT HAS BEEN IN OPERATION FOR ONLY A YEAR, SUFFICIENT DATA ARE NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR FINAL CONCLUSIONS. HOWEVER, CERTAIN TRENDS SEEM TO BE DEFINITELY INDICATED. AFTER 36,000 MILES OF DRIVING OF EACH CAR, THE AVERAGE GASOLINE MILEAGE FOR THE FIRST YEAR FOR CARS DRIVEN ONLY ON CONCRETE IS ABOUT 2 MILES PER GALLON GREATER THAN ON GRAVEL, AND THE GRAVEL CARS USE ABOUT TWICE AS MUCH OIL. TIRE WEAR ON GRAVEL WAS PRACTICALLY DOUBLE THAT ON CONCRETE AT 25 M.P.H. AND AT 50 M.P.H. WAS 50 PER CENT GREATER. PUNCTURES WERE IN THE RATIO OF ABOUT 58 TO 1 FOR GRAVEL OVER CONCRETE. CONSIDERABLY MORE WEAR HAS BEEN EVIDENCED ON BRAKE DRUMS, CYLINDERS, AND BEARINGS IN THE GRAVEL CARS. TOTAL OPERATING COSTS ON GRAVEL AVERAGED ABOUT 1/2 CENT PER MILE HIGHER THAN ON CONCRETE FOR THE FIRST YEAR. TESTS MADE WITH A RIDING COMFORT METER INDICATED THAT THE SMOOTHEST GRAVEL SECTION IN THE TEST WAS ROUGHER AT 40 M.P.H. THAN THE ROUGHEST CONCRETE AT THE SAME SPEED. /AUTHOR/
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Supplemental Notes:
- Vol 19, pp 68-98, 25 FIG, 10 TAB. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Authors:
- Moyer, R A
- Publication Date: 1940
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at Washington, D.C. December 5-8, 1939
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Serial:
- Highway Research Board Proceedings
- Volume: 19
- Publisher: Highway Research Board
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Concrete pavements; Gravel roads; Motor vehicles; Operating costs; Wear
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00223480
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Oct 3 1971 12:00AM