What color is asphalt?


bob

Administrator
Staff member
That’s easy, it’s black, right?

Not unless it’s brand new fresh out of the truck. It’s not even dark grey.

Brand new on the right, old on the left. Within a week or so, the stuff on the right will fade and get dirty.

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I've seen a lot of different shades of dark grey or black, but in Texas, on I-10 their research has discovered the perfect color for asphalt to perfectly match the color of truck treads at night. Ya can't seem em until you're right on top of them.
 
It probably does match truck treads, since they quickly fill up the tiny holes in asphalt, along with dirt and dust etc.
 
It all starts off black of course, but after a couple of years it will usually turn gray. Our lane was paved a few years ago and now the gray is almost a perfect match for a gray primer. I used that color for my town of Logan.
 
I never gave it much thought but it's rocks covered with a form of petroleum. When the petroleum on the surface get washed away the rocks become visible.

George
 
Mountain biking the trails I noticed that on the "paved" ones when they are new ya can't se em at night in the woods but after a few years it's like a lit trail and stands out on the blackest night. Depends on how "new" you want it to look I guess, quite a spectrum.
 
Gray and dark gray with areas of lighter gray. It's really not one solid color. To simulate patched cracks; or, simple patched areas, I use a Sharpie pen. I have used Sculptimold to make my tared roads. I thought they turned out pretty good and they worked for my purposes. One of the things wrong with my layout is there isn't enough roads.
 
I go to the shopping center yesterday that I help build in 2002. I've been there many times but never thought about the parking lot asphalt color. It's been there for 16 years now and it's definitely more back than grey. Why I don't know?

George
 
Here's one of my favorite places. This was taken a couple of years after the track was repaved. The black has started to turn gray.

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Here is what I did for my streets. The main street was painted a concrete color. Concrete will vary in color also. I was lazy and just used rattle cans. The side streets I wanted to be asphalt. Again, a rattle can, gray primer.

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May not be perfect, but it works for me.
 
As has been said, or implied, virtually any shade of grey will work for "asphalt" for all the reasons mentioned. For brand new, straight from the truck asphalt perhaps a grimy or weathered black. At the end of the day though, it will eventually turn some shade of grey.
 



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