GRAVEL ROAD LEVELS

There are four levels of roads in Nez Perce County that do not have asphalted surfaces on them. These categories are:

1. Primary Gravel Road; having applied aggregate surfaces, more closely meeting county standards, that have an AADT of 400 or more, and there for are not classified as low volume roads, being collectors, major collectors, or arterials.
2. Secondary Gravel Road; having applied aggregate surfaces, more closely meeting county standards, that have AADT in excess of 100; low volume; that can be classified as a Rural Major Access Road, minor or major collector.
3. Primitive County Road; County roads with natural soil and/or with applied aggregate surfacing materials that do not meet county standards and have limited usage; below 100 AADT. Classified as Rural Minor Access Roads, Rural Agricultural Access Roads, or Rural Recreational and Scenic Roads.
4. Dirt Surface, Natural Soil Surface Road; having little or no surfacing material applied to them. These roads can be agricultural access roads, forest access roads that are unimproved.

In addition to the above four levels of gravel roads, there are qualifiers for each road that establish the value, or priority of the roadway within the structure of Nez Perce County. Separating road by the number of qualifiers applicable to each road will allow us to further evaluate the road and allow us to set maintenance standards for that particular roadway or corridor.

A list of parameters to apply to each road is as listed below. A particular road may serve different functions and therefore can be identified in more than one category. The following are not in order of criticality or importance.

1. Farm to Market Roadways - These roads are used on a seasonal basis to access farming operations, field accesses, grain elevators, where products used in farming operations and/or harvested commodities are transported from the place of origin to a terminal or sales point.
2. Residential - These roads serve as access to residences, homes, developments, where they are used to commute for domestic purposes. Additional considerations would be for Schools, hospitals, and other essential services.
3. Seasonal Usage - Roads that can be either year around access or used in a specific time. Examples may be farm land access, timber land access, or may be associated with a recreational activity.
4. Recreational Roads - These roads experience higher volume for specific recreational activities. These roads may or may not directly effect commerce, but have an impact of the recreational opportunities in the County. Examples would be hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, camping, and other outdoor recreation. Also to be considered would be sports such as football, baseball, etc.
5. Local and Regional Commerce - Roads used for intra-county, cross county, state and interstate commerce, truck routes, roads leading to and from port facilities, granaries, places of manufacture or distribution.
6. Commuter Route - Roads connecting housing developments, residential areas, business establishments, and manufacturing or distributing facilities used on a daily or consistent basis.

AADT - Average Annual Daily Traffic
Definitions by AASHTO

January 2010

Road Maintenance Priorities

Infrastructure, the network of roadways, of Nez Perce County provide access and mobility to homes and businesses, provide for commerce both county wide and beyond, being essential to all County private and public activities. The service level throughout the County depends on the condition of these roadways. Maintenance and Preservation of the infrastructure is paramount to the County.

Nez Perce County Road and Bridge Department uses the following criteria to prioritize the maintenance and preservation activities. These maintenance and preservation activities are then balanced with the availability of budget dollars and amount of personnel available.

Categories of Roads

The roads are classified by function and by surface material. Functional classifications relate to how the roadway is used by the vehicles on it as well as the number of vehicles traveling on the roadway or Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT).

Applied aggregate or gravel roads have three categories or levels within Nez Perce Country. Those levels are:

1. Primary Gravel Road; having applied aggregate surfaces, more closely meeting county standards, that have an AADT of 400 or more, and there for are not classified as low volume roads, being collectors, major collectors, or arterials.
2. Secondary Gravel Road; having applied aggregate surfaces, more closely meeting county standards, that have AADT in excess of 100; low volume; that can be classified as a Rural Access Road, collector or major collectors.
3. Primitive County Road; County roads with natural soil and/or with applied aggregate surfacing materials that do not meet county standards and have limited usage; below 100 AADT. Classified as Local Roads, Rural Minor Collector Roads, Rural Agricultural Access Roads, or Rural Recreational and Scenic Roads.

Priority of Maintenance:

The highest priority of roadway maintenance is preservation of arterial roads with AADT exceeding 400, surface material being asphalt mat. Arterial roads provide the mobility within and across the county connecting to municipalities, other arterials, state and US highways. These asphalt mat roadways require preventive maintenance to insure structural integrity, ride ability, and surface friction.

The second priority of roadway maintenance is two fold; Bituminous Surface Roads (BST) and Primary Gravel Roads. Both of these road classifications can be Major Collectors, Minor Arterials, or collectors carrying an AADT of 400 and/or providing a substantial commercial or farm to market structure.

The third priority will be Secondary Gravel Roads. These roads are major and minor collectors through out the county, roadways that are identified as a significant collector or of commercial significance.

The fourth priority will be Primitive Roads. Primitive roads will be local roads and streets, minor collectors, carrying less than 100AADT.

The fifth priority will be Dirt surface, Natural surface roads, having little or no surfacing material applied to them. These roads can be agricultural access roads, forest access roads and are unimproved.

The available maintenance dollars will be expended in order of priority as noted above. Consideration will also be given to Safety Issues and Service Levels throughout the County. Maintenance dollars will need to be spent on all the above priorities to maintain a satisfactory service level for the citizens of Nez Perce County.