Roadworks

We finally have an all weather bitumen road..... and it has only taken ten years 😁
The decision to bitumen the road came this year when we had an exceptionally heavy fall of rain during the wet season that "washed out" the road very badly.  It would have been very expensive to repair, almost as expensive as laying bitumen so it was a no brainer really.
It took three days to form the road ready for the bitumen.  A local friend did the job for us with the use of his excavator, bob-cat and a borrowed roller.  We used our tractor with the spray tank to keep the road damp and it worked well.  I hadn't realised that there was quite so much work involved in road formation but when the men from Pioneer arrived to lay the bitumen they were very pleased with the foundation so it was worth taking the time to do it right.
The process of laying the bitumen is quite involved.  First comes the tip truck to lay the black stone screening that is then rolled into the road.  Next comes the spraying of the bitumen, by hand in places where the truck can't get close enough.  The last load of screenings is then laid over the bitumen and then rolled.  We chose red stone as the top coat as it blended nicely with the road that we already have in front of the house.  I love how the finished road looks.  We still have to finish with filling a few gutters with stone on either side of the new road but there is no rush for this.

The road formwork begins

Philip rolling the formed road

Our little tractor used for watering

Top dressing the bitumen with the red stone

The last roll

From this.......

To this.....

And this.....

To this.....