An interesting article by U.S.A. Today says that the future of gravel roads may be bright due to budget concerns and may benefit from the decommisioning of paved roads to gravel. The article states that several states and counties are finding that their low traffic count roads are far cheaper to maintain if they are converted from pavement to gravel.
Here in the Mid-West this doesn't seem likely now. There are a plethora of gravel roads and it would seem that in many cases here it is actually the gravel roads that are being shut down. This probably stems from the fact that there are far fewer farms now than before which means many roads are "dead roads". Roads that have no one living on them and are not necessary for access.
Sometimes these roads are left to revert back to dirt roads, or are given back into the control of land owners, who typically gate them off from public uses. It is also to be noted that recent record flooding, which took out several old county maintained bridges on rural roads, has contributed greatly to the disappearance of rural roads in the Mid-West.
Whether the mid-section of the country sees the paved roads turned into gravel is anyone's guess, but it is interesting to note that this solution is gaining a foothold with local governments strapped for operating cash.
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Where I live (Johnson County, KS) we've seen the opposite: just within a dozen miles of my house, in the last year I've lost over 15 miles of gravel roads that have been paved. Suburban sprawl is evil...
@KansasCyclist: Great point! Urban sprawl is responsible for much of Iowa's loss of gravel roads too.
And congrats on being the first to comment on GGN!
GT, The biggest threat to cycling access to gravel, IMO, as you've seen during/after TI, is that the rural inhabitants posses a belief that the road is "mine." For most city/suburban types we find this odd. However, you touch on the issue with the idea that once county maintenance ends the few remaining landowners fence it off. This goes back to fact that in many state/counties the landowner granted access to the local govnmt to build the roads in the first place. Often for no more than a tax break. My farmer grandfather (93 yrs) continues to call all the roads around his farm "his" because he and his father granted the access to the state and county to go through their pastures to build them.
With the gravel grinders growing to 400+ riders, one might expect some 'kickback' from the local residents. And isn't this one of the very reasons we go gravel, is to avoid this? Anyway, thought this might provide a perspective on how some rural residents see the issue of 'their' roads. James
@26jbg: Thanks for your comment. It does illustrate where long time family farmers viewpoints are coming from. That heritage is somewhat diluted by the loss of several of these family farms though.
As to the rosters getting so big in some events, you make a very salient point. This bears watching.
The "kickback" from 400+ riders coming into a small community of 250 or fewer residents, i suspect, is the economic bump that occurs when many of those riders spend money at the local mini-mart... And in the hotel/motel beds the racers and support crew fill up at the start/finish town, which usually isn't in a town much larger.
MG - I agree with the economic boost from a large number of competitors coming into the start and checkpoint towns. That said, Joe Farmer, located in between those points, may not think of that when he's trying to get his equipment in the field and is suddenly in the middle of a swarm of cyclists. ;)
MG - Another interesting point of data... Did anyone go back to the stores used in the GLGA and investigate their sales increases over a typical day when we motored through?
@MG, @Steve Fuller: Economic impact can be huge, agreed. However, ALL impact needs to be considered, which you touch on, Steve, in your comment.
Even economic impact can be overshadowed by what locals may see as "Inconvenience" at the disruption of "their" daily routine. We ran into that last year in LeGrand at the convenience store there. A disgruntled employee almost tossed us out of our checkpoint!
So again, roster size and its impact on the local economy, infrustructure, way of life, and ecology all need to be part of a promoters concern when putting on any event with two wheeels involved. Not to mention the quality of the event itself for the riders.
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