alt Hacker NewsSame with any roadway. The base is everything. I visited some European contries and noticed that the roads seemed to have fewer cracks and potholes than many roads in the US. I had assumed it was better maintenance, but the reason I was told is that they spend a lot more on preparing the base than is typical in the US.
Most of Europe sees far fewer freeze-thaw cycles than most of the US does, which are a huge killer of roads.
The color scales aren't equivalent here but you can see the difference:
Europe - pretty much only unpopulated northern Scandinavia + up in the Alps/Pyrenees getting over 64 days, most of the most densely populated areas with lots of infrastructure below 32 days: https://www.atlas.impact2c.eu/en/climate/freeze-thaw-days/?p...
US - https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Climatology-of-Freeze-... (Fig 4.2) - Probably more than 50% is over 75 cycles, and large chunks breaking 100 cycles a year (almost all of New England and some other scattered patches, the Rockies/interior West/Western Plains).