Gravel road embankments in low-lying areas. Cellular confinement systems can be used to prevent the washboarding effect. The gravel used consists of varying amount of crushed stone, sand, and "fines". Fines are silt or clay particles smaller than , which can act as a binder. Crushed stone is used because gravel with fractured faces will stay in place better than rounded river pebbles. A good gravel for a gravel road will have a higher percentage of fines than gravel used as a subbase for a paved road. This often causes problems if a gravel road is paved without adding sand and gravel
Silt, Colorado west. U.S. Route 6 is Main Street in Silt, and provides a local route parallel to I-70. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which , or 1.46%, is water. This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Silt has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,740 people, 648 households, and 452 families residing in the town.