While perfect dust control can’t be done with a gravel road, reduced gravel road maintenance is a huge win.

You can spend tens of thousands relaying gravel each year on a road where the base material turns to ashes. Most times, laying more gravel only adds to the dust problem, leading to increased runoff pollution and creating unsafe work environments for construction, mine, and other workers.

Even if you’ve engineered gravel roads for decades, we have some new dust control methods you may have never considered.

Methods for Dust Control on Gravel Roads

Chlorides

Chlorides have always been the industry standard for controlling dust on gravel roads. You’ve probably already used calcium chloride and magnesium chloride on previous projects, whether in flake or liquid form.

This method successfully pulls air moisture into the road to prevent wind or water erosion. Many engineers utilize various chlorides to maintain a damp gravel road to keep clients and their drivers happy.

Geocell

HDPE (high-density polyethylene) foundation grids make for a durable dust control method. By interlocking the road within its honeycomb structure, the road surface prevents soil and water erosion from occurring.

Your gravel road increases its load support capacity by distributing vehicle weight across the entire base. The US Military found tremendous success rolling tanks and other heavy equipment over geocell bases.

Soybean Oil

Also called Acidulated soybean oil soapstock by engineers, this is another effective dust control method for gravel roads. Bind gravel and road particles with their petroleum base with a biodegradable product that isn’t harmful to the environment.

Asphalts

Asphalts used to be a popular option for reducing gravel road maintenance and controlling dust but has found to have disastrous environmental impacts with the inclusion of kerosene and fuel oil.

If you have asphalt, we recommend exercising caution when applying them by only doing so with special asphalt equipment.

Resins

Lignin sulfonate-based products are fantastic recycling of mining pulp to utilize for gravel roads. Simply take a team out to incorporate the various commercial names into the road surface.

Most engineers and miners refer to resin dust control products as “tree sap” and they can effectively bind soil particles together.

Geocell for Gravel Road Stabilizing

Overall, geocell is an excellent dust control product that also stabilizes the road surface for decades to come. It’s chemical and weather-resistant and eliminates the yearly repaving of the gravel you’re so used to.

You and your clients can have a clean conscience knowing there’s no polymer or chemicals in the gravel road. Geocell prevents the long-term devastation of flora and fauna and maintains excellent road conditions longer than any other option.

Get a Gravel Road Evaluation for Geocell

If you’re curious about geocell or want to learn more, we recommend getting a project evaluation. Our BaseCore engineers can assess your project’s needs and explain the product in detail, including specs and testing done in the past.

You can also try geocell’s HDPE panel system for slope embankments, shorelines, and other large-scale environments and industries. This versatile and affordable product extends past just dust control for gravel roads and we want to show you how.

Call our team today at (888)-511-1553 so we can schedule a call that works for your schedule.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-10/documents/2003_07_24_nps_gravelroads_sec4_0.pdf