Extended life road system and method

Abstract

A roadway is widened preferably by no more than 36 inches to move current traffic lanes on state and interstate highways and county roads to control the wear of these roadways. After a period of time with normal road wear taking place along a first pair of strips in each demarked travel lane where the tires normally ride, the travel lanes are shifted preferably by 36+− inches. The old roadway lines are removed and new lines added shifted by 36+− inches. After the shift, the pair of strips of the road wear are now shifted to a second pair of strips in each demarked travel lane where there has been little wear, thus extending the life of the roadway, then after a period of time these lanes can be shifted back 18 inches, then shifted back to the original position and repeated until the roadway needs to be resurfaced, thus further extending the life of the roadway.

1 . An extended life roadway system providing regular periodic wear strip wide partial lane shifts along a roadway surface for extending the life of a roadway in a roadway surface comprising a hard vehicle bearing surface having a number of travel lanes marked by lane divider lines thereon, each of the travel lanes having a pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface by receiving wear from tires of vehicles traveling over the roadway surface repeatedly following the same path of travel in each of the travel lanes, the pair of wear strips comprising a spaced parallel pair of roadway sections along the length of the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes, each of the wear strips having a width not greater than a quarter of the width of a travel lane, the system comprising: 
 a lateral extension of a roadway surface on at least one side of the roadway surface by at least the width of a wear strip along the entire length of a roadway surface creating an extra side surface along the length of the roadway, so that an extended width roadway is formed for regular periodic partial lateral shifting of a series of lane markers by a width of a wear strip of the location of the travel lanes on the roadway, the extended width roadway having a first series of lane divider lines marking a first series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in a first laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over a first period of time having a first pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes; and a second series of lane divider lines replacing the first series of lane divider lines, the first series of lane divider lines being removed, the second series of lane divider lines positioned in parallel alignment to the first series of lane divider lines and spaced apart from the first series of lane divider lines by a width of the wear strip, at least one of the second series of lane divider lines located on the lateral extension of the roadway surface, the second series of lane divider lines marking a second series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in a second laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over a second period of time having a second pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes adjacent to the location of the first pair of wear strips to provide regular periodic shifting of the series of lane divider lines to alternate the wear pattern to control the wear of the roadway and to extend the life of the roadway so that over the extended life of the road the entire roadway surface is worn evenly thereby increasing the life of the roadway and providing a safer environment for a motorist.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising at least one additional series of lane divider lines replacing the second series of lane divider lines, the second series of lane divider lines being removed, the at least one additional series of lane divider lines positioned in parallel alignment to the second series of lane divider lines and spaced apart from the second series of lane divider lines by a width of the wear strip, at least one of the at least one additional series of lane divider lines located on the lateral extension of the roadway surface, the at least one additional series of lane divider lines marking at least one additional series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in at least one additional laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over at least one additional period of time having at least one additional pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes adjacent to the location of the second pair of wear strips to control further the wear of the roadway and to extend further the life of the roadway so that over the extended life of the road the entire roadway surface is worn evenly thereby increasing the life of the roadway further and providing a safer environment for a motorist.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the lateral extension of the roadway surface is at least eighteen inches thereby widening the roadway surface by the eighteen inches.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the lateral extension of the roadway surface is between eighteen inches and thirty-six inches.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the lane divider lines are formed by a coating on the roadway visually different from the roadway itself so that the coating is clearly visible as roadway lane divider lines by motorists traveling on the roadway.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 5  further comprising a means for covering the first series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 5  further comprising a means for removing the first series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the lane divider lines are produced by imbedding a series of marking means on the roadway visually different from the roadway itself so that the series of marking means is clearly visible as roadway lane divider lines by motorists traveling on the roadway, the series of marking means being removable when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       9 . An extended life roadway method providing regular periodic wear strip wide partial lane shifts along a roadway surface for extending the life of a roadway in a roadway surface comprising a hard vehicle bearing surface having a number of travel lanes marked by lane divider lines thereon, each of the travel lanes having a pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface by receiving wear from tires of vehicles traveling over the roadway surface repeatedly following the same path of travel in each of the travel lanes, the pair of wear strips comprising a spaced parallel pair of roadway sections along the length of the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes, each of the wear strips having a width not greater than a quarter of the width of a travel lane, the method comprising: 
 a first step of lateral extending a roadway surface by at least the width of a wear strip on at least one side of the roadway surface along the entire length of a roadway surface creating an extra side surface along the length of the roadway, so that an extended width roadway is formed for regular periodic partial lateral shifting of a series of lane markers by a width of a wear strip of the location of the travel lanes on the roadway, the extended width roadway having a first series of lane divider lines marking a first series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in a first laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over a first period of time having a first pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes; and    a second step of forming a second series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway surface replacing the first series of lane divider lines, the first series of lane divider lines being removed, the second series of lane divider lines positioned in parallel alignment to the first series of lane divider lines and spaced apart from the first series of lane divider lines by a width of the wear strip, at least one of the second series of lane divider lines located on the lateral extension of the roadway surface, the second series of lane divider lines marking a second series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in a second laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over a second period of time having a second pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes adjacent to the location of the first pair of wear strips to provide regular periodic shifting of the series of lane divider lines to alternate the wear pattern to control the wear of the roadway and to extend the life of the roadway so that over the extended life of the road the entire roadway surface is worn evenly thereby increasing the life of the roadway and providing a safer environment for a motorist.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising at least one additional step of forming at least one additional series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway replacing the second series of lane divider lines, the second series of lane divider lines being removed, the at least one additional series of lane divider lines positioned in parallel alignment to the second series of lane divider lines and spaced apart from the second series of lane divider lines by a width of the wear strip, at least one of the at least one additional series of lane divider lines located on the lateral extension of the roadway surface, the at least one additional series of lane divider lines marking at least one additional series of designated travel lanes on the extended width roadway in at least one additional laterally positioned location on the roadway surface along the length of the roadway surface for normal traffic flow over at least one additional period of time having at least one additional pair of wear strips formed in the roadway surface in each of the travel lanes adjacent to the location of the second pair of wear strips to control further the wear of the roadway and to extend further the life of the roadway so that over the extended life of the road the entire roadway surface is worn evenly thereby increasing the life of the roadway further and providing a safer environment for a motorist.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 9  comprising forming the lateral extension of the roadway surface at least eighteen inches thereby widening the roadway surface by the eighteen inches.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 9  comprising forming the lateral extension of the roadway surface between eighteen inches and thirty-six inches.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 9  comprising forming the lane divider lines by applying a coating onto the roadway visually different from the roadway itself so that the coating is clearly visible as roadway lane divider lines by motorists traveling on the roadway.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13  comprising covering the first series of lane divider lines by a means for covering the first series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13  comprising removing the first series of lane divider lines by a means for removing the first series of lane divider lines on the extended roadway when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 9  comprising imbedding a series of marking means on the roadway visually different from the roadway itself to form the lane divider lines so that the series of marking means is clearly visible as roadway lane divider lines by motorists traveling on the roadway, the series of marking means being removable when replaced by the second series of lane divider lines.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 9  comprising shifting the lane control lines at least once a year.