Use of naturally-occurring but non-standard materials in low-cost road construction

Summary This paper briefly outlines the use of non-standard materials in road base construction in Australia. After a short survey of the history of usage and the parallel development of current rigorous standards for base course materials, a selection of examples of the successful use of materials not meeting those standards is given. Such materials include decomposed rocks, soft rocks, fine grained materials, loams and sands. Some comments are made on construction and maintenance practices appropriate to such usage.