The second application of a product designed to harden dirt roads and keep them from becoming dusty and muddy appears to be working on Spur Ranch Road near Eldorado.

"Right now the road is in great shape and we have had no complaints about it," said Jim Garland, president of the Spur Ranch Road Association. "But it hasn't really been put to the test yet because we haven't had any significant moisture."

Residents of Spur Ranch Road pitched in $41,000 last fall to have Roadpacker Plus -- a product that has been used for decades overseas but is relatively new to the United States -- applied to the road. But, the first application didn't take, according to local distributor Bob Sherwin, because soil imported for the project didn't have the correct makeup to bond with the chemicals in the road treatment product.

As a result, the road continued to get sloppy after rains and snow, to the dismay of some who had paid for the treatment.

In January, Sherwin paid $35,000 out of his own pocket to truck in new soil and reapply the product to Spur Ranch Road.

Because the product had never been applied and cured in sub-freezing temperatures before, Sherwin said, he spread a layer of gravel over most of the mile-plus stretch that was retreated, to ensure traction for motorists should the road become muddy again. Sherwin said he intends to remove the gravel from that part of the road in March or April once nighttime temperatures are above freezing.

Sherwin said Monday that both the three-quarters of a mile stretch covered with gravel and the approximately two-tenths of a mile left without gravel for testing purposes appear to be hardening as they should.

Garland said he and several other members of the Spur Ranch Road Association board conducted their own informal test recently, pouring about
7 gallons of water on the two different parts of the road and leaving it overnight to see what would happen.

Garland said the eastern part of the road -- which connects to U.S. 285 has had the most time to cure and is covered with gravel -- "seemed to hold up fine." The western portion of the road, near the railroad tracks -- which was not covered with the gravel -- "did form a surface slush." But, Garland said, he's optimistic the road will be fine come spring.

Sherwin said recently he hopes to have the product evaluated by the state Department of Transportation so that it could be approved for use on public roads. He said Department of Transportation representatives visited the site during the initial application and told him to fill out an application to get it accepted into the department's product evaluation program, but he's waiting to submit the paperwork until he sees what happens when the road is revealed to the elements completely in a few months.

In the meantime, the North Central Regional Transit District -- which had considered using the product to remedy soil moisture issues at its headquarters in Española -- has decided not to use the product.

"I have concerns about its proven abilities," said district director Anthony Mortillero. "And I did not want to take a chance with it."

But others -- including officials in Grant County -- have agreed to try the product, which has been used extensively on roads in South Africa and China to harden dirt roads and prevent mud, dust and washboarding for a fraction of the cost of traditional paving.

Sherwin said he recently struck a deal with officials from Grant County to provide Roadpacker Plus products that will be applied by county crews to the mile-long entrance to the Freeport McMoRan copper and gold mine near Silver City.

Grant County and the mine will split the cost of the product (about $75,000), Sherwin said. Roadpacker Plus products cost $25,000 to $35,000 per mile (plus $15 per mile for application) depending on which formula is used, Sherwin said. Traditional paving can cost as much as $600,000 per mile.

Sherwin said three layers of the chemicals will be used on the road that leads to the mine because it is frequently used by trucks carrying loads that weigh up to 100 tons.

Sherwin said he also has an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to apply the product to a three-mile stretch of road in Cochiti Pueblo beginning in March.

"If they like the way it turns out," Sherwin said, "they'll approve it for all their projects."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com