Living on Gravel Roads vs. Paved Roads

[CateP]

Does anybody care to comment on how well Alton does on maintaining gravel roads? Should I call the town office and ask?

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by CateP

Does anybody care to comment on how well Alton does on maintaining gravel roads? Should I call the town office and ask?

While I may be a little biased, Alton does a pretty good job. The most common complaint is summer dust as budget constraints limit the amount of dust control chemical that is spread.
If you are considering a specific road, call the highway dept and ask about it.
http://alton.nh.gov/Highway.asp

[CateP]

Well I hit the jack pot with the Alton Highway dept. Turns out the secretary lives on the road in question. How cool is that??
I asked a ton of questions and now have a much better idea about the area and the road. She said it is "ledge pack" and was rebuilt in 2009. Lots of drainage. Little dust. None of those ripples. The residents had a chance to get the road paved, but they voted it down because they wanted to keep the speed down and the country feel.

Hey I figure if the secretary of the highway dept lives on the road, that road WILL be maintained...doncha think?

Anyway, great conversation with yet another wonderful lakes region resident.

(Is it something in the water that makes everyone seem so nice and happy?)

[RLW]

I was going to say that I live on a dirt road in Alton and that Ken does a great job keeping up with it all year long considering that Alton has a lot of town dirt roads to take care of. You called the right person and you got all your answers right from the horses mouth so to speak

[MAXUM]

Every time I've ever considered the purchase of a piece of property I always have re-sale going through the back of my head. Think of it this way there is never a reason to second guess or explain living on a paved road, dirt, well that may only appeal to a certain audience therefore limiting potential buyers. It's like the location there are some things you have no way to change once you're bought in.

Bottom line, for me personally I'd prefer not to be on a dirt road but it wouldn't kill me either way - however I would never buy on a dirt road for the reason stated above. Resale value.

Just something to think about!

[CateP]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

Every time I've ever considered the purchase of a piece of property I always have re-sale going through the back of my head. Think of it this way there is never a reason to second guess or explain living on a paved road, dirt, well that may only appeal to a certain audience therefore limiting potential buyers. It's like the location there are some things you have no way to change once you're bought in.

Just something to think about!

Re-sale is definitely on my mind these days as I am trying to sell my current house so I can buy the next one.

[MAXUM]

I know the feeling, it's amazing to get feed back as to what turns off potential buyers. When I sold my first house (one that both my wife and I built) we spent a lot of time really putting thought into everything we did knowing that the house was not going to be the last place we ever lived. We were looking to make the house pleasant and in some ways a little unique. Well come the time we put it on the market and I was pretty surprised at what we heard back from buyers. We heard complaints from the landscaping to the carpet color. So it goes to show you how important the little things are. Eventually the right buyer comes along and just has to have the house and it sells, but the process can be frustrating at times.

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by CateP

Well I hit the jack pot with the Alton Highway dept. Turns out the secretary lives on the road in question. How cool is that??
I asked a ton of questions and now have a much better idea about the area and the road. She said it is "ledge pack" and was rebuilt in 2009. Lots of drainage. Little dust. None of those ripples. The residents had a chance to get the road paved, but they voted it down because they wanted to keep the speed down and the country feel.

Hey I figure if the secretary of the highway dept lives on the road, that road WILL be maintained...doncha think?

Anyway, great conversation with yet another wonderful lakes region resident.

(Is it something in the water that makes everyone seem so nice and happy?)

I thought that you might have been considering that road, close to Wolfeboro but low Alton taxes, and yes I knew that she lived on the road. The drainage was completely redone with a closed system in the steep parts. The ledge pack is almost as hard as pavement, used on a lot of "gravel" roads in Vermont. Anyway, the gravel road under consideration is probably one of the best in NH.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by CateP

The residents had a chance to get the road paved, but they voted it down because they wanted to keep the speed down and the country feel.

I've got both "paved" and "gravel" on a private road, and "gravel" wins. The other eleven residents on my road maintain the "gravel" part year-round, and have properties with a collective value of about $18,000,000. What do you bet that the "paved" part—which is breaking up—is returned to gravel?

Except for those driving other-people's-vehicles , traffic is "tamed", and noisy bikers don't want their chrome dusty.

If your lot is dense with trees, any dust tends to settle-out on their leaves: our vehicles have an awful look, but it's because they're covered in pollen!

A neighbor's private road was a dirt road, then a new neighbor moved in with a Ferrari, and convinced his neighbors that the road just had to be paved.

But I'd take a look at the paving on Winnipesaukee Drive near the Alton/Wolfeboro line before paving! (Big permanent bumps! ).

Originally Posted by CateP

(Is it something in the water that makes everyone seem so nice and happy?)

It's the granite.

You can buy the "granite dust" saved from granite engravers to spread on your garden!

[Piston]

Just to add to what people have already said about the Alton roads, I find the road my grandfather lives on to be exceptionally well maintained. It is a dead end gravel road with a fairly decent incline going up, so it's very prone to the washboard effect. As Rattlesnake Guy said, once that starts, it gets exponentially worse.
I was speaking with Ken (Alton Road Agent) a couple weeks ago and I believe he told me there was 6 miles of gravel roads in the town. I'm not sure how other towns compare but to me it seems Alton is above average as far as maintaining the roads.
The nice thing about gravel roads, is once they do get heaved up and rutted and banged around from bad winters, a quick scrape from the road grader turns the road back into great shape. Try that with a paved road, I know many paved roads in Alton that were beat up quite a bit from the past winter and it will take a while for them to get fixed.
I have to admit the road my grandfather's house is on sees very little traffic and I think that contributes to the condition. It honestly is better than paved roads for most of the year. In the winter it seems better as it doesn't seem as 'slippery' in adverse conditions.
I would certainly not hesitate to live on a gravel road in Alton, they keep them very well maintained. In fact, I will be moving up onto the same road I'm speaking of within the next couple years and am looking forward to being on a gravel road.
I also wouldn't worry about any vehicle issues unless your the type to be heavy on the foot over rough terrain.

Gravel vs. dirt there can be a big difference. No mud issues on a well drained gravel road but before his road was redone many years back, it was all regular dirt, you couldn't get up it in the spring time. Those years are gone though!

[Kamper]

"doncha think" I would agree unless her staff gets in a spat with the road crews!

My experience with dirt roads is the ones that are raised above the level of the edges will have better drainage and are less likely to get washed out.