Quote:
Originally Posted by cornholio
Most highways in Europe (at-least in Germany/Czechia/Austria etc. are concrete. Concrete is superior and lasts longer. Of-course though as it approaches its end of life the surface may end up with some issues, at-least the old highways have (not sure about modern techniques).
Asphalt however is cheaper. Personally I would love for them to do proper concrete. It is better and for the next couple decades you would have a smooth perfect surface that needs hardly any maintenance.
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I've been driving the freeways in southern Germany and Austria a lot this past year - my experience has been the opposite. The new highways, built and being built, around Vienna are asphalt. The highways from Frankfurt through Munich and on to Vienna are mostly asphalt. I have passed construction zones near Innsbruck, Munich, Dresden, and in Vienna itself, where concrete highways were being covered with asphalt.
In the past, I have driven on interstates in Michigan, Minnesota and the plains, in which the concrete was so rough and cracked from weathering I was shocked. No matter how smooth you get the surface, the expansion control joints are natural breakdown mechanisms . . . ka thunk, ka thunk, ka thunk . . .