Our look at
ROAD DAMAGE
from heavy truck traffic

Heavy truck traffic begins as soon as a Marcellus gas well site is developed. First, heavy excavation equipment must be hauled in to grade the access road and level a multi-acre drilling pad. Then trucks haul in hundreds of tons of crushed stone for final construction of the road and drilling pad.

Multiple tractor-trailer loads are then required to haul in the various parts of the drill rig, while later hauling away these same parts from the gas well site. The largest volume of truck traffic begins with the hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, especially if more than one well is fracked at the same time.

Frac pumps, holding tanks, tanker trucks and a wide variety of support trucks and equipment eventually crowd the frac site. During fracking, tractor-trailer loads of sand are continually delivered to the Marcellus well site.

Studies indicate it can take anywhere from 400 to 1,300 truck trips to complete one gas well. There are seven gas wells on this site.

Truck traffic will continue as the condensate tanks are periodically drained and the gas wells are maintained. This amount of heavy truck traffic damages roads and also contributes greatly to the creation of ground level ozone.

Once the frac is complete, scores of trucks from service companies arrive to complete the gas wells. Finished wells require regular visits from well tenders and other service equipment. One Denton, Texas study determined that for all three phases of a gas well -- drilling, fracing, and maintenance -- approximately 592 one-way truck trips were required per well. Some individual trucks weighed as much as 80,000 to 100,000 lbs when fully loaded.

These projects resemble industrial operations, so state, county and local roads take a real pounding. Municipalities are well advised to Bond their roads prior to drilling activities, so the roads can be repaved once these major activities are completed. Below are photos of secondary blacktop roads on Marcellus Shale that have been pummeled by heavy truck traffic to a rural drilling site.