Why are concrete roads being built only in the USA? #shorts

Why are concrete roads being built only in the USA?

#history #shorts #usa #education

[FrancisoDoncona]

As an American I can attest that the german autobahn is also concrete but much thicker better made and will outlast the world.

[SW-gfzl]

Germany's pre-WW2 Autobahn was built with concrete. It even outlasted 40 years of neglect during the communist GDR era, but had to be rebuilt after the 1990 reunification.
In former West Germany, however, maintenance was not neglected and therefore quite a good portion was replaced with asphalt. However, in the aftermath of the 1970s oil price shock, for some time they returned to concrete for construction of new stretches of the Autobahn.

[elvijsvinniks]

In Europe on highways, we use concrete under asphalt

[theguy]

If you don’t use concrete it’s your own asphalt

[MarkWright]

Concrete motorways or hi-ways are all over Europe and the U.K. been here for decades.

[notyou]

I drove on last remaining fragment of Hitlers Autobahn in 2008. It was never resurfaced (70 years) and there was some noticable degradation of the slabs at joints but it was servicable and at high speed it was hardly noticable. The road was resurfaced shortly after my visit and brought up to modern standards.

[chandutomaz]

Concrete roads are also built in India and their longevity helps a lot. Some of our streets are built 20 years back using concrete and they are still very good and going.

[Odinus]

We have also a lot of concrete highways in Germany but we are also using asphalt.

Asphalt is mostly used for highways that are build in city areas next to people's homes because a asphalt road is way more silent than a concrete one.

But in areas without buildings next to the highway you can often see concrete highways as well.

[grahamr]

Australia have concrete roads and a negative they are more noisy

[fish]

Hitler already used concrete for the Autobahns so they were strong enough for tanks. They were still in place and good condition when I got my drivers license in 1981.

[moladiver]

What people don't know is that asphalt IS a type of concrete. In Holland we have something called ZOAB which is a Dutch acronym that stands for very open asphalt concrete. It's a thick solid layer with the structure of a spunge and when it rains it drains the water so fast you don't get any spray. Not even when it rains hard. It also makes the road a lot less noisy and it looks really nice too. Best road surface ever created and beats any slab of concrete.

[larrybarnes]

There are concrete highways in Australia too. Look outwards instead of inwards, for a change.

[IndigenousAmericanTrucker]

As a trucker, I love concrete freeways so much better. However, one problem with concrete is that once it starts to crack, it cracks in long straight lines and becomes worse than asphalt pot holes when you hit them. Another problem is that the city or state always refuses to fix cracked concrete. They will re-lay asphalt all day but will never replace concrete! They will just let it get all cracked up to the point where people's cars get damaged.

[ScottFinley-xekk]

In Germany, the concrete on the Auto Bahn is 6 ft thick and lasts 30 to 50 years. If there is a crack or heave, they have this massive machine that can cut-out and remove a 30 foot long block, remove and replace with a previously cast block. America always goes on the cheap when it comes to engineering compared to Germany.

[paulne]

I use to drive on a 4 lane road on the way to a landfill. The road lasted 30 years. A few cracks, usually at overpasses. The township got the great idea to repave with blacktop. Within a year, the right lane going to the landfill had grooves so deep, that a car with low ground clearance( like a corvette) could not even enter the highway. I heard they ripped up all the blacktop and re did it. All they had to do was repair the potholes with concrete!

[claudiusconruton]

We have continous concrete highways in South Africa!
We also pioneered rubberized Asphalt roads, a lot less cracking in cold areas

[geoffwoodgate]

They are rebuilding the Lagos epe expressway in Nigeria, right now. in concrete.

[panchopuskas]

Most roads in Europe, and especially here in Spain have a concrete base with asphalt on top. Some roads just have bare corrugated concrete, but they're awful and are steadily being replaced....

[patrickinlow]

The German autobahn is built with concrete, and they are good roadways.

[kenssto]

I've always found the best combination to be using a nice thick concrete base. But then put a sacrificial asphalt layer on top. The benefit of this is that concrete is quite loud when you drive on it especially at high speed. Whereas asphalt is nice and smooth and quiet.
Concrete definitely lasts longer, but once it begins to fail it can get pretty nasty. And it fails and cracks and sinks in big chunks leading to very bad road conditions.