Originally Posted by
achoo
Because it's expensive. You can't just lay 2" of asphalt on top of the current trail - that just leads to large chunks of asphalt in a few years, especially where there's significant freezing.
And after all the work to pave it, the pavement then needs more maintenance than a crushed stone trail. Or again it'll turn into large chunks of asphalt.
Reference Mr. Bill's link above. Good information - like pavement is less expensive to maintain. However, I agree, cities/counties are not willing to put money there. However, I contrast this with all other bike-infrastructure in the area is paved (i.e. MUPs).
And yes, I run fenders on my commuters. However, you're still getting sprayed with limestone mud. Like my shoes were a total disaster yesterday. I know longer fenders would be better and mud flaps even better.... for reference, my daily beast:
