Watching the Roanoke web cam, I see a lot of clean up going in front of the Hotel Roanoke. It looks like there’s a lot of ballast or some sort of rock spread down the street and they have been bringing many trucks to haul it away. The little bobcat has been running along the street and dumping it’s load into one of the trucks. I saw a worker blowing a lot of dust back into the street so the bobcat could pick it up. A derailment? Too many trucks if a gate came open on one truck.
Shenandoah rd was milled for repaving. Should have searched a little more before posting. My Bad.
Beyond removing the ‘current surface’ on highways, I always thought part of the reason for milling highways was to smooth out the high spots.
A section of I-70 I traverse was recently milled in preparation for resurfacing - made the highway rougher than the old surface was. It also leaves stone chips that can be picked up by leading vehicles and thrown into the windshields of following vehicles. Fortunately I haven’t gotten a broken windshield.
Some other reasons for milling. Several roads milled to keep overhead clearances above minimums especially the 13’6" trailer clearances. Streets milled to prevent curbs being covered or reduced leaving water to flow over reduced curb height. Milling can " sometimes " reduce pavement heaves. Milling has exposed past improper street repairs that can be corrected preventing some future pot holes.
Some of the fines can be refurbished and reused for pavement with a mixture of new surfacing.
My county is doing resurfacing this year by dumping stone on the road, milling it (which includes the stone that was added), adding a binder to the grindings, and putting it right back down. It seems to be a decent base coat, but definitely needs a “finish” coat added or I suspect it will disintegrate this winter.