I don’t see much talk about that self-evident fact. Asphalt sucks in so many ways. What would be a better alternative that needs not worry about cars but mostly bicycles?
I don’t see much talk about that self-evident fact. Asphalt sucks in so many ways. What would be a better alternative that needs not worry about cars but mostly bicycles?
It’s still bad for the environment, you’re essentially bisecting it. Animals can cross the road, but mycelial networks (which underpin pretty much everything in the forest) often can’t. A ribbon of asphalt divides entire networks, isolating and perhaps even killing them, which leads to collapses in other areas. It also impacts drainage and encourages runoff.
This can be mitigated by using wood chips as a road surface instead of pavement. There are experimental mycelium-based road surfaces in development as well.
The holy Grail obviously is a flat, hard surface more similar to asphalt but without those issues, as I know wood chips and other rough surfaces can be both annoying to ride on and preclude certain vehicles/tires (i.e. road bikes) from riding on them at all.