Everything that sustains us ? grown, mined, or drilled ? begins its journey to us on a low-volume road. Defined as roads with traffic volumes of no more than 400 vehicles per day, they have enormous impacts on economies, communication, and social interaction. Low-volume roads comprise, at one end of the spectrum, farm-to-market roads, roads in developing countries, Northern roads, roads on aboriginal lands and parklands; and at the other end of the spectrum, heavy haul roads for mining, oil and gas, oil sands extraction, and forestry.

This book gives an international perspective to the engineering design of low-volume roads and their construction and maintenance. It is a single reference drawing from the dispersed literature. It lays out the basic principles of each topic, from road location and geometric design, pavement design, slope stability and erosion control, through construction to maintenance, then refers the reader to more comprehensive treatment elsewhere. Wherever possible, comparisons are made between the standard specifications and practices existing in the US, Canada, the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Low-Volume Roads is a valuable reference for engineers, planners, designers and project managers in consulting firms, contracting firms and NGOs. It also is an essential reference in support of university courses on transportation engineering and planning, and on mining, oil and gas, and forestry infrastructure.