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UNPAVED ROAD DUST MANAGEMENT
A Successful Practitioner's Handbook

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Publication No. FHWA-CFL/TD-13-001
January 2013

Central Federal Lands Highway Division
12300 W. Dakota Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80228

Front Materials

Foreword

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourages programs that protect both the environment and the life of the roadway. Fugitive dust from unpaved roads threatens air, soil and water quality and roadside flora and fauna. This loss of material cause road surface deterioration, increases maintenance cost, and adds to the complexity of managing a network of unpaved roads.

This FHWA report called Unpaved Road Dust Management, A Successful Practitioner's Handbook offers broad programmatic-level guidance for managing a cost-effective unpaved road program. This handbook is for all managers of unpaved roads who seek to stretch their budgets to provide an acceptable level of service while minimizing risks to air, soil and water quality, vegetation and wildlife.

Signature - Michael Davies, P.E. Directory of Project Delivery

<Signature>
Michael Davies, P.E., Directory of Project Delivery
Federal Highway Administration
Central Federal Lands Highway Division

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The FHWA provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. The FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.
FHWA-CFL/TD-13-001
2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle

Unpaved Road Dust Management, A Successful Practitioner's Handbook
5. Report Date

January 2013
6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s)

David Jones, Angela Kociolek, Roger Surdahl, Peter Bolander, Bruce Drewes, Matthew Duran, Laura Fay, George Huntington, David James, Clark Milne, Mark Nahra, Andrew Scott, Bob Vitale, and Bethany Williams.
8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Western Transportation Institute
P.O. Box 174250 Bozeman, MT 59717-4250
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH68-09-E-00099
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Federal Highway Administration
Central Federal Lands Highway Division 12300 W. Dakota Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80228
13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final Report,
August 2009 - August 2010
14. Sponsoring Agency Code

HFTS-16.4
15. Supplementary Notes

COTR: Roger Surdahl, FHWA-CFLHD. For a list of the Dust Scan Steering Committee members please see Appendix A. This project was funded under the FHWA Federal Lands Highway Coordinated Technology Implementation Program (CTIP).
16. Abstract

This handbook provides broad programmatic aspects of unpaved road management. It is based on observations made during a national scan tour and provides useful and insightful excerpts of real- world examples and includes practical how-to instructions for determining what type of treatment may be needed for different situations. It ultimately strives to encourage road managers to think broadly about the process of unpaved road management rather than just focusing on a specific type of chemical treatment.
17. Key Words

FUGITIVE ROAD DUST, DUST CONTROL, CHEMICAL TREATMENT(S), UNPAVED, GRAVEL, UNSEALED ROADS, PALLIATIVES, STABILIZATION, UNPAVED ROAD MANAGEMENT
18. Distribution Statement

No restriction. This document is available to the public from the sponsoring agency at the website http://www.cflhd.gov.
19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified
20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified
21. No. of Pages

94
22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI* (MODERN METRIC) CONVERSION FACTORS
APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO SI UNITS
Symbol When You Know Multiply By To Find Symbol
LENGTH
in inches 25.4 Millimeters mm
ft feet 0.305 Meters m
yd yards 0.914 Meters m
mi miles 1.61 Kilometers Km
AREA
in2 square inches 645.2 Square millimeters mm2
ft2 square feet 0.093 Square meters m2
yd2 square yard 0.836 Square meters m2
ac acres 0.405 Hectares ha
mi2 square miles 2.59 Square kilometers km2
VOLUME
fl oz fluid ounces 29.57 Milliliters mL
gal gallons 3.785 Liters L
ft3 cubic feet 0.028 cubic meters m3
yd3 cubic yards 0.765 cubic meters m3
NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m3
MASS
oz ounces 28.35 Grams g
lb pounds 0.454 Kilograms kg
T short tons (2000 lb) 0.907 megagrams (or "metric ton") Mg (or "t")
TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)
°F Fahrenheit 5 (F-32)/9
or (F-32)/1.8
Celsius °C
ILLUMINATION
fc foot-candles 10.76 Lux
lx
fl foot-Lamberts 3.426 candela/m2 cd/m2
FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS
lbf poundforce 4.45 Newtons
N
lbf/in2 poundforce per square inch 6.89 Kilopascals kPa
APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM SI UNITS
Symbol When You Know Multiply By To Find Symbol
LENGTH
mm millimeters 0.039 Inches in
m meters 3.28 Feet ft
m meters 1.09 Yards yd
km kilometers 0.621 Miles mi
AREA
mm2 square millimeters 0.0016 square inches in2
m2 square meters 10.764 square feet ft2
m2 square meters 1.195 square yards yd2
ha Hectares 2.47 Acres ac
km2 square kilometers 0.386 square miles mi2
VOLUME
mL Milliliters 0.034 fluid ounces fl oz
L liters 0.264 Gallons gal
m3 cubic meters 35.314 cubic feet ft3
m3 cubic meters 1.307 cubic yards yd3
MASS
g grams 0.035 Ounces oz
kg kilograms 2.202 Pounds lb
Mg (or "t") megagrams (or "metric ton") 1.103 short tons (2000 lb) T
TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)
°C Celsius 1.8C+32 Fahrenheit °F
ILLUMINATION
lx lux 0.0929 foot-candles fc
cd/m2 candela/m2 0.2919 foot-Lamberts fl
FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS
N newtons 0.225 Poundforce lbf

kPa
kilopascals 0.145 poundforce per square inch lbf/in2

*SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380 (Revised March 2003)

Table of Contents

List Of Figures

LIST OF TABLES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge all who put forth their efforts towards this Unpaved Road Dust Management, A Successful Practitioner's Handbook. The Dust Scan Steering Committee was composed of more than 20 experts (Appendix A) who volunteered many hours advising, planning, writing and/or traveling on the Scan. We are grateful for the energy and wisdom they shared.

We extend a heartfelt thank you to the following individuals and their agencies and staff who hosted the Scan travel team: (Idaho) Joe Wuest and Verlin Van Zee of the Lakes Highway District, Ryan Luttman of Bonner County Road and Bridge; (Montana) Joe Hughes and Steve Monlux (Retired) of the U.S. Forest Service, Erik Dickson of Missoula County; (Arkansas) Gary "Mac" McElroy of Ozark-St. Francis National Forest; (Colorado) Randy Teague of Douglas County Department of Public Works, Dale Miller of Larimer County Road and Bridge, Josh Holbrook and Mel Everhart of Weld County Public Works, and Ted Plank of Boulder County.
We also acknowledge the logistical prowess of Traci Ulberg of Meetings Northwest, LLC, and Matt Duran and Carrie Plasters of EnviroTech Services.

Finally, we thank the staff at the Western Transportation Institute for their administrative support.

PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS

The authors acknowledge the following individuals for allowing the use of their photographs in this handbook.

Photographer Figure numbers

David Jones: 1, 2, 6-9, 11-17, 20-34, 20-34, 36-46, 48-50, 52-55, 57-60, 62-74,
77, 78, 80-86, 88-91, 93-95, 97, 98
Jason Paas: 76
Ken Skorseth: 10, 18, 19, 47, 61, 87
John Snyder: 75
Roger Surdahl: Cover, 3-5, 79
Robert Vitale: 51
Bethany Williams: 92, 96

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