Rural roads are the lifeblood of America’s economy and some of the most crucial routes for transporting goods. Yet rural road maintenance is often a financial and logistical nightmare for counties and townships. In this blog, we’ll explore why rural roads are harder to maintain than city streets. Then, we’ll cover 12 ways to save money on county road maintenance—from reducing labor costs to performing preventive maintenance and more. Let’s dive in!
Around 71% of America’s roads and 72% of its bridges are rural.1 So, what shape are they in?
Rural interstates have the best ride quality of all roads, with 83% rated “good.” However, 19% of rural major collectors (highways connecting small towns to interstates) are rated “poor.” Rural local bridges had more “poor” deck area than all other bridges, and since 90% of weight-restricted bridges are rural, semi trucks have to travel three times farther than in cities to find safe bridges to cross.2 The maintenance backlog for rural roads is $180 billion, according to transportation research nonprofit TRIP.3
Rural roads are more likely to be unpaved than urban roads. Because soil and gravel are erosion-prone, unpaved county roads are harder to maintain. Additionally, rural roads are more common in mountainous areas where road maintenance costs more due to increased labor, hauling, and other resources.
Industries that rely on heavy trucks and equipment—like agriculture, forestry, mining, and construction—are responsible for 47% of rural employment. In 2018, tractor-trailers logged 95.1 billion miles on rural roads, compared to 89.1 billion on urban roads, and many occurred on roads classified as Critical Rural Freight Corridors.4
Heavy trucks and machines do serious damage, especially on unpaved roads. And since experts project freight tonnage to increase 1-2% per year through 2045, counties need to prepare for even more semi truck traffic.5
Around 96% of rural households own cars compared to 78% of urban households. Rural households own more vehicles, with nearly 40% owning three or more.6 Those vehicles are more than twice as likely to be pickup trucks, which are heavier and may damage unpaved roads more than lighter, smaller cars that urban drivers favor.7
While driving on a rural road, you’ll see less traffic than urban roads due to lower populations. But there’s more traffic than you might think! Rural dwellers drive about 50% more miles per year than urbanites, and rural populations are growing, putting more cars on the road.8
Tourists from urban areas are also responsible for around 44% of non-business rural road use.9 More traffic means more damage and more road maintenance!
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law increased funding for many American roads, including some rural ones, from 2021 to 2026. However, most funds go to federal-aid and state highways. Counties and other local governments remain largely ineligible for funding, even though they manage approximately 76% of lane miles and 50% of bridges in America.10,11
Paving and other road maintenance projects decrease during recessions. When new roads are necessary, project owners are more likely to build unpaved roads or cut corners to reduce expenses. That means more repairs—and more maintenance costs—later on.
Many county road crews are understaffed due to tight budgets and workers seeking higher pay in other industries. Short-handed crews struggle to keep up with maintenance needs.
Now, it’s time for the good stuff: 12 practical ways you can save money on road maintenance in your county or township!
To save money, you must first know where it’s going. Sure, you keep records for the county budget, but there’s more. By tracking expenses over longer periods of time, you can spot things like rising gravel prices or high employee turnover. These are great places to start saving!
You can also use expense tracking to project upcoming material and labor costs better, so it’s easier to budget or compare new materials and methods to see what’s most cost-effective.
Saving on labor doesn’t have to mean cutting hours, laying people off, or refusing to hire new folks. Rather, labor savings look like efficiency. The faster and better your crew can maintain one road, the more time they can spend on others. Then, when you pay them, you’re getting more bang for your buck.
Two ways to help your crews become more efficient and save money are:
Another option is hiring outside contractors for certain jobs they can do more cost-effectively than your crews. That frees up your crews to focus on the things they’re best at and enhances productivity, while those other projects still get done well.
For low- or no-cost labor, consider contracting with county jails or volunteer groups from nonprofits or religious organizations. They can often handle small jobs like vegetation removal, trash pickup, and pothole repair, freeing your crews up for larger projects.
Finding suppliers for gravel, chlorides, or other soil stabilizers can be challenging in rural areas, and you don't want to risk alienating a potential partner. However, shopping around for new products or vendors could save you money. For example, extra hauling costs may be worthwhile if a quarry farther away sells significantly cheaper gravel.
Or, instead of changing suppliers, ask about changing your contract’s length.
Longer-term contracts may bring discounts, and you lock in your rate—which is helpful for products that generally increase in price. That said, shorter contracts may be better for volatile products that frequently change in price or availability. Watch supply, demand, and price fluctuations to help you negotiate money-saving contracts.
Whether you're using geotextiles to retain gravel, rut boxes to reduce material spillage, or recycled asphalt for paving, you can save money by avoiding material waste. You can even space signs or pavement markers slightly farther apart—still at safe distances, but using fewer materials.
Reacting to problems after the fact is an expensive road maintenance strategy! As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So, how can you prevent road maintenance problems?
Some ideas are:
Of course, minor maintenance problems will still crop up. That’s okay; they’re cheaper and easier to fix than big ones. Address these issues as soon as possible—for instance, filling small potholes before they expand.
Sometimes, counties buy equipment to make one job easier, but afterward, they don't have much use for it. Or, they don't buy equipment because it's expensive, but it would save hours of labor on numerous jobs. It's important to do cost-benefit analyses to determine if you should buy, rent, or borrow road maintenance equipment.
You can also save time and money by regularly maintaining your machinery according to the operator's manual. This will prevent costly breakdowns and project slowdowns.
Federal funding often goes toward building new roads rather than repairing existing roads. However, some politicians are advocating for a “fix-it-first” strategy that allocates funding to repair existing roads first and build new roads second.
A fix-it-first strategy can improve safety, travel times, and other traffic issues by solving maintenance problems. You may even find that repairing existing roads eliminates the need for some new lane miles. And hey, why wait for the feds to fund your road maintenance? You can implement your own fix-it-first plan!
You probably live in the community where you manage roads, so you’re familiar with many of the maintenance issues. However, while driving on a rural road is one thing, the crews in the field doing the road repair are even more familiar. Ask what they use and need. Talk to neighboring counties about their maintenance programs, too.
Additionally, the road maintenance industry has emerging technologies and products that could help you save. Read industry news, subscribe to newsletters, or attend trade shows and conferences to learn about them.
Most reasonable adults who are driving on a rural road want it to be safe, but they may be surprised to learn that many county roads are ineligible for state or federal funds. So, teach them! Then, ask which road maintenance issues matter most, and encourage them to express their ideas to the county road commission.
Locals may even be willing to help fund maintenance projects to improve the roads they drive on every day. For example, some counties pay to rehabilitate roads and bridges for safety, but they ask locals to fund decorative elements. Local artists may even agree to volunteer their skills to paint murals on or alongside rural infrastructure.
Travel speeds and vehicle weight wear down rural roads. Should you reduce speed limits or install signage to decrease sudden speed changes and prevent rutting or washboarding? Or, are poor-quality roads slowing traffic too much? Consider how you can implement traffic control measures to balance speed, safety, and easy maintenance.
One piece of advice: don’t skimp or overdo it on safety features. Some roads need guardrails, but others don’t. Some intersections need flashing lights and rumble strips, but others don’t. You can save money by strategically placing safety features where they’re most needed and using fewer features in naturally safer areas.
The best-built roads are easiest to maintain. For example, you can:
The more you have to reapply a product, the more it costs. That’s why gravel and chloride treatments aren’t as cost-effective as they first appear. Plus, some road maintenance products have other costs. Things like bitumen emulsions or chlorides aren’t safe for the environment or the community. They can contaminate water and crops, as well as damage cars.
Finding a safe, cost-effective soil stabilizer that lasts for years is the key to saving money on road maintenance. So, look no further than Perma-Zyme! This enzyme-based soil stabilizer is all-natural, non-hazardous, non-toxic, and eco-friendly. One simple application lasts 10+ years on unpaved county roads and 20+ years on paved roads.
