Who can explain? - Australia's desert roads stange feature

Hi,

When surveying Australia's North Territory flatlands (huge arid and poorly populated area) I noticed these big "road breaks to nowhere" or "branches" (don't know how to call them) accompanying many hundreds of kilometers of big roads. These features are quite hard to explain for a lay person. At the same time their scale and amount is so big, that they require some investigation for inquisitive mind. The riddle concerns many hundreds of kilometers of roads (both asphalt and gravel type) where these "branches"-like "road-breaks to nowhere" occur in regular separations (but not always regular) next to them on one or both sides. Also the shape and length of them is not regular. They seem to be 50-100m in length (sometimes more), and 5-10 meters width. Usually slightly curved, usually at 45-30 degrees angle to the road, apparently marked on the soil by some heavy machinery. They accompany roughly 20% of the total length (my rough estimation) of the main roads in Northern Territory (e.g. number 1, 87, 80) and also lower category roads like Camooweal to Urandangi Road (analysed roads are marked on .kmz file with blue color). The most striking example is probably at the junction of 80 and 87 (Pin "B12" on attached .kmz) as well as wide gravel road (Pin "B12" on attached .kmz). I'm really curious of the origin and purpose of these "road breaks". They must've cost an enormous amount of effort! In some cases (where road is not asphalt) eqal amount of work as the road itself. There are thousand+ of them across Northern Territory (wasn't able to verify - it's too time consuming - it's a huge area). Considering very low traffic on many parts of these roads, this is really mind bugging. Although I have M.S. degree, I could not find explanation for them.
In addition, in attached .kmz file you can find "PATAGONIA" folder, where identical features can be found by at least 2 of main roads in the desert... didn't have time to analyse more of Patagonia. There are probably more. Don't know what input it may have to solving the Northern Territory Riddle.

I attach .kmz folder with exemplary roads and "branches" marked.
I reccoment using Bing Maps for detailed images - Bing has much better quality for some reason... Just copy coordinates from Google Earth Pin (right click/properties/description) and paste to Bing Maps (for each pin).

Please clearly indicate if you have only a guess/hypothesis or a reliable source of information/proof. There can be multiple explanation, but probably only one can be prooved/confirmed.

Thank you for your attention,

Tommy Olsen

Attachments:

BRANCHES.kmz (38.57 KB)

They are run off's due to bulldozers or graders keeping the roads level and clean, they can't keep moving sand/dirt so they run off then continue.

Welcome Tommy, hi TL!

good find, nice solving!

some image reference I found (until hotlink works):

source: racqliving.com.au/road-trip/plan-outback-road-trip/

and for after hotlink does not work anymore (:

best!

g

Dec 6, 2017 11:27:07 GMT Admin said:

They are run off's due to bulldozers or graders keeping the roads level and clean, they can't keep moving sand/dirt so they run off then continue.

Hi, thanks for quick reply! Of course I considered such explanation, but the question remains: why only on part of the total lenght of the roads those features can be seen and why they are so irregular in separation and size. And do they use the same technique only on part of the roads in Patagonia...
Have you got any proof for your hypothesis? If not, this is still only a hypothesis for me and you should clrearly state it. Otherwise all discussion on the forum can become just free chats with no reasonable conslusions. I can come with other hypothesis like these, e.g. that those were places where material for road construction was taken, or that these are drains for excess of water during wet season.

I'm waiting for an answer from Australian road industry representative - this would be an example of reliable source of information.

still no "Australian road industry representative", just me again, with some slightly off-topic stuff:

Termite castles all around by the highway, also a Road Train on GE StreetView can be seen at one of your "branches".
More and more I like this thread..(:



SV sightseeing spot Australia.kmz (858 B)

Hi Tommy,

Run off drains, they are part of the standard road construction in Australia.

If you construct a road without them then when it rains, the water flows along the road and destroys all the work by turning the road into a waterway.

The drains are usually surveyed into the design but in more remote areas the Grader and Dozer operators pick and choose where to place them.

You'll find more of them and closer together in the lower lying areas where the natural fall of the land sends most of the water.

On big jobs and where the area is rugged they can be cut by Dozers. This allows the Graders to concentrate of forming the road and being more productive without being subject to rough working conditions. Dozers are more suited to the off road work.

When Dozers aren't used, the Graders simply take a cut off to the side where it looks right, most of the operators are quite experienced at placing and cutting drains as part of the normal operations.

One needs a keen eye to cut a drain that will take the flow of heavy thunderstorm rain away from the roads without  modern hi-tech lazer leveling gear,,,,

ask me how I know.

Dec 6, 2017 13:52:45 GMT nostranger said:

Hi Tommy,

Run off drains, they are part of the standard road construction in Australia.

If you construct a road without them then when it rains, the water flows along the road and destroys all the work by turning the road into a waterway.

The drains are usually surveyed into the design but in more remote areas the Grader and Dozer operators pick and choose where to place them.

You'll find more of them and closer together in the lower lying areas where the natural fall of the land sends most of the water.

On big jobs and where the area is rugged they can be cut by Dozers. This allows the Graders to concentrate of forming the road and being more productive without being subject to rough working conditions. Dozers are more suited to the off road work.

When Dozers aren't used, the Graders simply take a cut off to the side where it looks right, most of the operators are quite experienced at placing and cutting drains as part of the normal operations.

One needs a keen eye to cut a drain that will take the flow of heavy thunderstorm rain away from the roads without  modern hi-tech lazer leveling gear,,,,

ask me how I know.

I wasn't expecting to receive responses for this thread so quick :-). Thank you all for engagement.
nostranger I assume you work in the industry. This is all starting to make sense... . I could not imagine that these drains can be so long! Some I found are 500m+ long and very densly placed (see attachment from Bing maps). I'm also wondering why are they not perpendicular to the road, but sometimes quite close to the road and very straight. But rarely they are (attachement). Sometimes you can see couple of them joining in the lower area (more green on the desert). Also, roadwork by the airfield I attached a screen of seems to be immense considering the vely low traffic this airport must operate. Also, there are no drains around the airfield itself. I attached dozer (like that word :-) in scale for comarison.

syzygy I'm also starting to enjoy this thread - I learned a lot about this beautiful land already. The "magnetic temites" - amazing! I'm going to post next riddle regarding infrastructure soon ;-).

Attachments:

buldozer.kmz (243.85 KB)

Not perpendicular to the road because water flow doesn't like to make 90 degree changes in direction without causing major erosion,
The water flows from the road into the gutters formed on each side, runs along for a ways then diverts into the drains, the angle of the drain is determined by the direction of flow off the road and side gutters.

As mentioned before, the size and number of the drains depends mostly upon the lay of the land, and the fact that when it rains, it is usually a huge downpour from big thunderstorms dumping colossal amounts of water in short amounts of time. Flash flooding is common.

One other thing to consider is that most of these areas is very dry for most of the year, so sometimes things look like they might be a little over done,,, but when it does rain, look out, you need all the drainage you can plus some.

Imagine if you can what the drainage system looks like underneath the many sealed roads in towns and Cities, all mostly concealed and out of sight, some towns incorporate a mix of concealed and open drainage systems.

So, in these remote areas, all the drainage is above ground and relies completely on levels and run off to lower levels to manage the huge amounts of water when it comes. 

Ha Ha, and even then, when the BIG Rains come, the whole Kit and Kaboodle ends up flooded and under water.

Dec 7, 2017 4:05:46 GMT nostranger said:

Not perpendicular to the road because water flow doesn't like to make 90 degree changes in direction without causing major erosion,
The water flows from the road into the gutters formed on each side, runs along for a ways then diverts into the drains, the angle of the drain is determined by the direction of flow off the road and side gutters.

As mentioned before, the size and number of the drains depends mostly upon the lay of the land, and the fact that when it rains, it is usually a huge downpour from big thunderstorms dumping colossal amounts of water in short amounts of time. Flash flooding is common.

One other thing to consider is that most of these areas is very dry for most of the year, so sometimes things look like they might be a little over done,,, but when it does rain, look out, you need all the drainage you can plus some.

Imagine if you can what the drainage system looks like underneath the many sealed roads in towns and Cities, all mostly concealed and out of sight, some towns incorporate a mix of concealed and open drainage systems.

So, in these remote areas, all the drainage is above ground and relies completely on levels and run off to lower levels to manage the huge amounts of water when it comes. 

Ha Ha, and even then, when the BIG Rains come, the whole Kit and Kaboodle ends up flooded and under water.

Thanks nostranger . Couldn't expect more detailed answer! What are the chances that there's an australian road works specialist on the forum?!.

For the other question regarding road infrastructure I had (didn't post it before) I can problably already give answer to myself: the big "tanks" you can find along some the big roads - many of them- these are also to collect excess of water (tanks.jp attachment). As well as paraller "roads" next to the sphalt roads seen on that screen. This is all open drainage system used in outback to hande big rains.

If you live, work, or drive in the outback you know how the road network works. You will find that we have members from just about every place on the planet. Many of us have been doing GE for 15+ years, so if you need an answer to a question, there is no better place to ask.

Also welcome.

Drainage in action, what better way to explain.

Tanami road closed

Also, the parallel roads you see along side the major roads serve several purposes, they provide access during construction and maintenance of the main road,

They provide a detour for normal traffic while construction or maintenance is happening, and after the work is completed they can be cleaned up to provide drainage and or a clear path to erect fences to keep livestock and wildlife off the main road.

The later brings on an interesting scenario though, as you have seen the drains and gutters collect fresh rain water,,,,, and guess what the livestock and wildlife like to do in a hot arid climate after it rains, those fences sometimes have no effect on keeping desperately thirsty creatures away from the road verges.